People resort to films that relieve their soul

The director of Mexican origin based in España, Paco Arango, received a surprise on June 3 when he realized that his film The Healer (Lo Que de Verdad Importa) had reached first place on Netflix´s most-watched ranking in the US.

The film, of which Arango donated 100% of the collection to the Fundación Aladina, has become the first in cinema to be entirely charitable.

“Before arriving in the US, the film had successfully raised more than US$4 million for children. When it reached the US in 2019, it didn’t cause anything special, it went unnoticed. We thought the US was a very difficult market. I think that COVID-19 has been partly to blame since people in these times we are living, resort to moments, situations, and films that can relieve their souls,” explains Arango, who is also the scriptwriter and producer.

Arango found inspiration in Paul Newman with Newman’s Own. “All that money goes to charity. I worked for nine years at his foundation, which has donated US$850 million to date,” he commented.

Arango has used the opportunity of the lockdown to review the project of a very ambitious film he wrote in 2015 with a US scriptwriter. “I tried to look for the production angles so that when we start to shoot it is easier; to soften the script, to realize that society is changing”. He explained it is a tale that takes place in New York.

He detailed that he has the option to make a series about The Healer.