Sandra Luz López Barroso is an anthropologist and award-winning filmmaker. She’s spent more than 10 years working on diverse artistic
projects in Mexico. She served as a DP on the short film “Inch Allah,” directed by Angelica Romanini. “Artemio” is her feature directorial debut.
“Artemio” will premiere at the 2018 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival on May 1.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
SLLB: “Artemio” is a film about a mother and a son relationship, and more specifically their day to day in a new place where they are looking for a new beginning. Through nine-year-old Artemio’s gaze, we can feel the distance and separation of families through migration.
It’s a complex movie approached from an unprejudiced and honest perspective because is comes from the point of view of a nine-year-old child.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
SLLB: The idea for his project emerged 10 years ago, when I met Artemio’s great-grandmother, Catalina Noyola Bruno. She is well-known in the region for being the last dancer of “artesa,” traditional music of the Costa Chica in Guerrero, México. My intention when studying cinema was to make a film that told the story of Mrs. Cata through different voices of Afro-descendant women that we met. That is, to make portraits of Afro-descendant women for whose lives Mrs. Cata was transcendental. At the end of those portraits I would join them and tell my story with her.
During one of the scoutings, Cocco Zarate found us and invited us to her house to talk. We went to record her and she told us about [Artemio’s] grandmother Mamá (Mother) Cata, and we met Artemio that day.
We were delighted with the family, especially with Cocco Zarate, who told me about her travels around the world, her desire to paint and write poetry. I thought I had found a young Mrs. Cata, and I did not hesitate to remain with only one character. It would be her that contained all that I wanted to talk about: Afro, coastal, strong, sexy, and independent women.
Artemio came later. Cocco told me that Artemio had a return ticket for the United States, so I decided to make a film about a relationship between a mother and a son that would end with a farewell, since Artemio would return to the United States.
W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?
SLLB: I would like the audience to be touched and moved by what they saw. For me, the most important thing is that they can be moved.
The film invites us to think about migration, the separation of families, the beauty of innocence in childhood, and many other things, but for me the most important thing is the feeling that the movie leaves you.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
SLLB: When we began the shooting with the complete team, Cocco told me that Artemio was not returning to the United States, so I was a little scared. Then, the team and I decided that we would dedicate ourselves to recording the family’s daily routine, the day to day.
We asked Cocco to please call the United States and to record those calls. [We also wanted to include] in the film why Artemio did not return.
It was a film that was built on a daily basis, reviewing the material each night, listening to it to know how we could structure it.
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.
SLLB: This film is my documentary thesis for the Film School in México, so most of the funding was from the school Cinematographic Training Center (Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica) that provides us with technical and human equipment.
Still, like in any school movie, there is an important investment of the personal resources, so I decided to apply to the DocsLAB platform of the DOCsMX festival at the end of 2016. It was on this platform that we obtained the support of the Churubusco Studios for the THX mix, as well as the support of AMBULANTE A.C. to finish the post-production processes such as color correction, music recording, and DCPs creation.
W&H: What does it mean for you to have your film play at Hot Docs?
SLLB: It is a wonderful opportunity to share the work in one of the most important documentary film festivals in Canada, as well as to generate networks of work and collaboration with documentary filmmakers from different parts of the world.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
SLLB: The worst advice I have received is that in order to be a female filmmaker or to be a woman in this profession, you have to give up your desire to be a mother or have a family if you want to. [Also that you] have to be strong and even aggressive with men so they learn to respect you.
The best advice was from my cinematography teacher Mercedes Porter: “Everything you do, do it with passion. If you are not doing what makes you quiver and makes your heart beat, you’d better quit.”
W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?
SLLB: To stay united and in constant communication to create networks that allow us to collaborate in different projects, and to invite more women to work on our projects.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
SLLB: The work and career of Agnès Varda is an inspiration and constant reference for me. Her film that I like the most is “The Beaches of Agnès,” because it is a deep and heartfelt reflection of what to do in the cinema and in her own life.
