March 14, 2013 - WestchesterGuardian.com

THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2013Page 5CULTURAL PERSPECTIVESThe World According to Film, Part 1SHERIF AWADFor more than a hundred years, cinemahas inspired many viewers andfilmmakers alike. Film became theobject of affection for some and theobsession of others. It also helpedsome to rise up from a tormenting fall. Take thestory of the American-Ecuadorian Ricardo “Rick”Segreda, a great film critic and a wonderful humanbeing I met in Quito a few weeks ago. Funny,down-to-earth, and knowledgeable in film, Rickgrew up loving cinema and the arts, which eventuallydrove him to study film in the USA. But hislack of confidence in competing with others of hisgeneration made him step away for too many yearsfrom his first love. Eventually Rick underwent acatharsis supported by those close to him and furtherbolstered by his strong will to reach the goalshe set for himself. His personal transformation ledto his success in establishing himself in Ecuador asa critic for the newspaper, La Hora, and acceding tomarketing manager at the Institute of Visual Artsin Quito, Ecuador (IAVQ).Rick Segreda (1st row from above) in Miss Taylor’s4th Grade Class at Mayflower.master of stop-motion animation who used realisticminiature models in classic films like The 7th Voyageof Sinbad, and Jason and the Argonauts that featureda famous sword fight against seven skeleton warriors.I remember that my father brought me twothings that fortified that love; a magazine whereHarryhausen was explaining the secrets of his craftand a super 8mm camera that I used to realize myown films featuring battles of clay dinosaur”, he remembers.Rick Segreda in Quito, Ecuador today.Rick Segreda’s journey is marked by his keennessto understand the world through the mediumof film. His Costa Rican father, who became anAmerican citizen, worked for the US State Departmentafter serving in WWII, where he met Rick’smother while working in the US Embassy in Quito,Ecuador. The family then relocated to Washington,D.C. where Rick was born. “After my father quithis job, we came to Westchester and settled in NewRochelle. I grew up in a house right behind NewRochelle High School, which I eventually attendedafter going to Mayflower Elementary School thatdoes not exist anymore. But of course, some of TheWestchester Guardian’s readers will remember it”, hesays.Like many filmmakers, Rick’s interest in cinemastarted early when he was a child. “Initiallywhen I was nine-years-old, I wanted to be a specialeffects master. My hero was Ray Harryhausen, theCitizen Kane changed Rick Segreda’s views aboutcinema.However, when he became an adolescent, histaste changed once he saw a public library screeningof Orson Wells’ classic Citizen Kane. “It had agreat impact on me especially at that time, when Iwas questioning many things: like our values andnorms. My father had just died from cancer and Iwas like, what’s life all about? I was lucky because,in a metropolitan city like New York, channels likeWNET-Channel 13, and many revival housesacross the city were screening films as they shouldbe seen: on a big screen and in their original format.I was exposed to non-American classics like JeanCocteau’s Beauty and the Beast, Federico Fellini’sLa Strada, Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal,and most of all François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows,which was about an adolescent who comes acrossthe hard truths about his mother and his surround-Continued on page 6