Catalina Mesa grew up in Colombia. She went to Boston College and graduated with a degree in Management & Communications. She then worked in New York in a production company. From there she moved to Paris, where she studied art history — obtaining an MA in Comparative Literature at the Sorbonne — and studied film at the Gobelins School of Image, La Femis film school, and UCLA. Since 2009, she has completed many projects in film and photography. (Press materials)
“Infinite Flight of Days” premiered at the 2016 Hot Docs Film Festival on May 2.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
CM: This film is a journey through eight intimate portraits of women of all ages and social conditions from the village of Jericó, Antioquia, a province in Colombia. It unfolds as a kaleidoscope, revealing and preserving their profound life stories, interiors, sense of humor, wisdom, and authenticity. This film is a celebration of the female spirit of this region in Colombia.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
CM: I love Jericó because of my great-aunt, Ruth Mesa, who was born and lived there through her childhood. She used to tell me stories about her adventures, dreams, the other villagers, and their local festivals. Her tales always fired my imagination. She talked about Jericó’s writers and poets. Despite being located in the middle of the Andes Mountains, Jericó has always had a special interest in words, poetry, and art, and so people call it the “Athens of South-West Antioquia.”
In my country, which is still young, we have not yet learned the value of memory in encouraging and protecting Colombia’s unique culture. Our society is focused on building the future and sometimes lacks subtlety when walking the fine line between past and present.
I filmed Ruth telling her stories before she passed. I knew then I had to meet Jericó’s other women one day. Like her, these women embody the feminine aspect of Antioquian culture with such grace. They are able to reconcile what seem to be opposites: sadness and humor, delicacy and courage, vulnerability and joy.
I met many of Jericó’s women, one after the other, over the course of several trips. What an extraordinary experience that was! I chose 12 of these women and asked them a series of questions to wake their memory and inspire their imagination. I directed and filmed the encounters between them and in the conversations that emerged, they revealed their life’s stories. During the editing process, I selected eight women in order to create a narrative that was rich and diverse, but also coherent and harmonious.
This lifestyle and these values are undergoing transformations. I wanted to preserve and pay tribute to this intangible heritage, with its words, presences, laughter, tears, actions, and songs. This is their heritage — the heritage of strong, sensitive, and dignified women who have such unbridled passion for life.
W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?
CM: I hope they discover, through a musical kaleidoscope, a new perception of Colombian culture — a sensitive, intimate, colorful, and profound perception that is able to reconcile pain and humor, sensitivity and courage, tenderness and strength. I want them to have a beautiful encounter with the feminine energy and spirit of this region of Colombia.
I want them to leave with a song in their heart and the desire to dance, to live, to hope beyond the difficulties in life. And at the same time, I want them to feel that even though these stories are specific to this culture, they are profoundly human and universal at their core.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
CM: Making this film has been a profound human experience inspired and originated in everyday reality and, at the same time, the most synchronistic almost supernatural occurrence. Even though it has been very hard work, I only have gratitude for this creative process. That is why I chose this title “The Infinite Flight of Days,” because it is in the very simplicity of their everyday actions and their profound acceptance of their lives — with the good and the hard — that the true dimension of these women was revealed, their infinite dignity and immense presence.
In the production phase, the administrative and legal process of the film both in Colombia and in France was a big learning experience for me. [It was] not always easy, because it demands a lot of details, paper work, and it takes a lot of time.
In the creative process, while editing and making decisions about what to let go wasn’t always easy, it is all part of the process.
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.
CM: Private investors that saw the value in preserving these stories. I will have some help from [non-profit organization] Proimágenes Colombia and the Ministry of Culture who will support me especially in the promotional phase.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
CM: The best advice was an answer to my question, “Who is going to watch this? Is it worth it?” And someone told me, “Do it for life itself.” And several days later I saw this phrase in a book: “Nothing to gain, nothing to lose, everything to give.” These two ideas are my main mantras, and for me they are my best creative companions.
The worst? It is not advice, but a general observation of the people around us that need to see before believing — they can be pretty toxic. In order to create, you need to believe first! And then you will see! So if you are in the cooking phase, go to those who have faith in their eyes, that believe in the invisible, and those who trust that life co-creates!
W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?
CM: Find what is really important to you, what really matters to your heart. Write that intention, trusting that life will cooperate and once that is done, work hard!
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
CM: I have to mention not one, but three women that inspire me. The three do or have done very different things. Agnès Varda and all her work, because she is herself — she is free! Pina Bausch, the dancer-choreographer, because her process of creation was completely receptive and respectful for life itself — so deep — I love her work! [Lastly,] writer and psychoanalyst Marie-Louise von Franz because she is extremely profound and her work takes me to that dimension where consciousness and the creative-unconscious kiss!
