Chilean actress, filmmaker, and producer Nicole Costa is the director of the short film “Chilean for Beginners” (2010), and the video art piece “Wireless Transmission” (2016) in Iceland, and has made a number of music videos. Costa also co-directed the short film “Danger & Alone.” “The Journey of Monalisa” is her first documentary feature.
“The Journey of Monalisa” will premiere at the 2019 DOC NYC film festival on November 7.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
NC: “The Journey of Monalisa” is the story of a friendship. I began the project in 2012, following a re-encounter after 17 years with my friend Iván Ojeda, a former classmate from the University of Chile. The film documents Iván, who had suddenly left Chile for New York 17 years earlier, almost without a trace.
In New York he finds in the anonymity of the great city the opportunity to “free” Monalisa, his female alter ego, and live as an undocumented immigrant and prostitute. Our reunion not only allows me to understand the reason for Iván/Mona’s decisions, but also the opportunity to embrace the complexity of an extraordinary being.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
NC: I met Iván in Chile in 1993, when he went to study at the Drama Department in the University of Chile. I was 17 years old and he made an impression on me from the start, not only because of his talent but also because of his great personality. He always operated disconnected from any expectations, as genuine artists do, and this made me deeply admire him.
But the school year ended, he returned to his hometown, and I didn’t hear anything more about him. In those times without social networks, you could easily lose track of someone. The years passed, and I went to Madrid to study. Then I heard that he had come to live in New York. But it wasn’t until I arrived in New York, 17 years [after we parted], that I decided to look for him, meeting — to my surprise — with Iván, and also with Monalisa.
This discovery aroused my curiosity immediately. I wanted to understand why someone as bright as him decided to leave such a promising future in his own country, to come and live in the shadow of marginalization, undocumented for so many years, and away from art. Then I started recording our meetings intuitively to understand Iván Monalisa’s decisions. And it was through our meetings that I discovered that in fact my friend never stopped exercising their talent, but instead had focused all their creative genius on building something much more important than any artistic production, and that this was their own identity.
W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?
NC: I want people to empathize with the character and their circumstances with all the complexity of being human, without moral prejudice. And that they can see Iván Monalisa as I do: with the depth and consequence of a person who has had the courage to find his own way, even though this implies a constant struggle not only with his own ghosts but also with the political systems and idiosyncrasies of the countries he has had to live in.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
NC: I think that the biggest challenge was building the structure of the story without falling into the morbidity or sensationalism of the issues being discussed. Together with the editor, Melisa Miranda, it took several attempts to coherently portray the various topics that are touched in the story, without these being treated superficially.
Topics such as transgender identity, prostitution, undocumented immigration, art, addiction, and friendship were deep themes that needed to have their own development in the edit, but it was difficult to do so without exceeding the duration we wanted the movie to have.
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.
NC: I started recording what would become “The Journey of Monalisa” by intuition. I did not know that this would become a movie. So at first I simply used everything that was within my reach. I began with a simple pocket camera, then cell phones, and eventually I acquired a DSLR camera and a zoom recorder.
As the years passed I was able to put a little bit more of my own resources into continuing the project. I mostly worked alone or with the help of friends and my husband. At the time it was difficult, but now I think that this was an advantage since it allowed me to have more intimacy in the filming sessions, and to take more risks — as a one person crew, I drew much less attention.
Eventually, after participating in several seminars for in-progress documentaries, I came into contact with Mimbre Productions who was interested in producing the film. Daniela Camino from Mimbre, who came on as producer, then went about getting the funds for us to do additional shoots, and to complete the post-production of the film.
W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?
NC: It was an evolution. I started studying in Chile at an age when I didn’t really know what I wanted. I think perhaps that when I went to Spain at age 23, unconsciously it was because I did not want to give in to the pressure of having such a clear and restrictive career path as what was expected of me in Chile. I just wanted to have new experiences that would allow me to grow and expand past the context I was raised in: the last years of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile.
When I went to Madrid to study Audiovisual Communication at the Complutense University it was because one thing I had clear was that I wanted to tell stories. But I never learned the practical things I was looking for, since it was a fairly theoretical degree. However, I managed to connect with very talented people who today are great friends, and with whom I did a host of interesting projects, and from which I learned a lot.
In 15 years in Madrid I worked as a waitress, as a monitor of camps for people with learning disabilities, I had an electro-cabaret band, I was in charge of a French bakery, and I even became the events planning manager of a hotel on a beach in Castellón. I had a lot of fun. But suddenly the economic crisis came, and everything fell apart. Work was scarce, and I had no idea where to go.
That moment of devastation forced me out of my comfort zone, and I decided to come to New York. Here I met up with my friend Iván Monalisa, and I knew immediately that I wanted to document them. I didn’t know very well why, but I sensed that I should do it. And so I started — with almost no technical experience, learning through my own mistakes in seven years of on-the-job training — making the film.
I must emphasize that this would not have been possible without the support of all the fundamental people who believed in me throughout the process, and especially the producers of this film, Gregory Costa and Daniela Camino.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
NC: My husband, Gregory, has always given me the best advice. He was the one who prompted me to find Iván Monalisa in New York as soon as I told him about Iván’s existence, because he understood how important it was to me. He was also energetic in advising me that I should always take care of the sound quality, even more than the quality of the image, since the viewer would have more tolerance for imperfect shots, but less tolerance for poor sound. And he was right.
The worst advice, or perhaps the most wrong, came from my parents, insisting that college or formal education were the only legitimate path of learning and personal validation.
W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?
NC: May they always follow their powerful instincts, and never be intimidated by “mansplaining.” It’s one thing to ask for advice and/or listen to suggestions. It’s another that, without asking, men tell you how and when you should do things.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
NC: “The Gleaners & I” from Agnès Varda. I love it because of her narrative freedom and enormous sensitivity in dealing with issues, and how she maintains a scholarly and generous reflection on being human.
W&H: What differences have you noticed in the industry since the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements launched?
NC: These movements have definitely meant a significant change. From the cinema, the door has been opened for feminist movements to position themselves in many of our societies, generating a revolution in gender paradigms. In this way we have been able to rethink many of the codes of conduct, not only in the audiovisual fields but also in all social fields.
https://vimeo.com/mimbreproducciones/monalisateaser
