Gabriela Calvache was born in Ecuador. Her short film “En Espera” (“On Hold”) premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, screened at the Berlinale, and earned awards at festivals in Japan, France, Chile, Ecuador, Argentina, and Brazil. Her short film “Things You Never Say” premiered at the Mar del Plata Film Festival and was shown at the Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C. “La Mala Noche” is her debut feature.

“La Mala Noche” will premiere at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival on March 9.

W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.

GC: “La Mala Noche” describes a moment in the life of Dana, a brave and elegant woman who resorts to prostitution to pay off a debt in order to reunite with her daughter in Colombia. An unexpected event forces her to make a very dangerous decision, and a chain of events leads to a point of no return.

“La Mala Noche” is the result of a series of interviews I conducted with several women who were forced into prostitution and who managed to escape from this situation.

W&H: What drew you to this story? 

GC: In 2011, I had the opportunity to visit several teenagers living in a shelter. I was invited to present my short film “En Espera” (“On Hold”). When I met these teenagers, they shared their stores about how they were forced to prostitute themselves and lived in slavery.

This encounter had such an effect on me. It made me feel completely powerless and shocked that didn’t know about all these things going on with slavery and human trafficking. Just speaking in terms of numbers, there are more people enslaved right now than at any other point in history.

I started researching and speaking to other survivors, and everything culminated in this film.

W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?

GC: I would like to spark the audience’s curiosity, make them leave the cinema with the desire to search for more, learn more, talk to other people, and gain a deeper understanding of the situation of the woman they’ve just met in this film.

“La Mala Noche” is a film that seeks to bring forth questions rather than answers.

W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?

GC: My biggest challenge has been to keep faith alive and remain invested in the story when things are looking tough, be it financially, artistically, or emotionally. Learning to accept all the rejections and shortcomings with peace and humbleness, to deal with delays, funds being denied, and to keep on working with enthusiasm and faith in the project requires a powerful internal drive, particularly when working in a highly competitive space such as cinema.

W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.

GC: To be completely honest, in countries such as Ecuador, it’s quite difficult to find funds for a movie that costs around $150,000. The indie film industry in Latin America can only be funded with state funds, public policies, and private sector. Ecuador has had a film law for 10 years, and the resources it has to finance movies are very small. The private sector has no financial incentive to fund movies. We don’t have any policies in place for the private sector.

We have a co-production agreement with the Ibermedia Program, which allows us to co-produce with several Latin American countries, but we lack a bilateral and direct agreement with these countries, which would help a lot. Co-production with other countries has become a fundamental source of film financing for small countries such as Ecuador because the money from several small countries can be combined to finance a film, making bigger productions possible.

“La Mala Noche” was funded after winning state film funding from two countries: Ecuador and Mexico. Both the Film Institute of Ecuador and the Mexican Film Institute selected this film through a public contest and partially financed it. It also obtained development and co-production funds from the Ibermedia Program. Cannes Marché du Film and the San Sebastian Film Festival Co-production Forum also supported this film.

The Ecuadorian private sector supported us with small but valuable amounts and exchanges. I made several institutional videos to cover various expenses. Others supported us willingly, because they were interested in the message this film brings to its viewers. Financing this film made me discover that there are very valuable people and companies that understand, respect, and support cinema. I hope not to disappoint them.

W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?

GC: My father is amazingly skilled at storytelling. My childhood was filled with all of his stories. I had no idea this would have such an impact on my life and my outlook on the world.

All societies and ethnic groups have had storytellers, shamans, and storytellers among themselves. Through narration, we humans communicate and understand each other. We look at each other and feel included, and we put ourselves in the shoes of others. That, for me, is the true value of cinema.

My love for storytelling began with my father, and I discovered cinema as a medium to do so. However, it was my mother who taught me to be constant, insistent, stubborn, and a perfectionist when it came to my goals.

W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?

GC: The best advice was given to me by the Mexican writer Laura Esquivel in 2014. I was going through  depression, caused by my deep involvement in the development and research for this film. Hearing all these stories from these women really affected me, and I was also pregnant at the time.

For the first time, I had a clear vision and understanding of the sexism, the machismo, and the patriarchal society we live in. Plus, I was very afraid of not being able to finish this movie, so I was working twelve hours a day just trying to finish it.

I was selected in a script workshop from “Pan’s Labyrinth” producer Bertha Navarro, and Laura Esquivel was one of my tutors. Laura looked at me and said, “We won’t speak about cinema or comment on the script. We’ll talk about life because that’s more important than cinema.” I couldn’t help but to burst into tears. For me, that was a lesson to which I try to return every time I lose the notion of things: life is more important than a movie, and, at that time, it was important to live, have my daughter, and be with my family.

The worst advice? Once upon a time, a close friend asked me why I wanted to direct a movie, and then asked if I was sure that I could pull it off. At first, this upset me because I was sure that I could direct this movie. But this doubt sank into my head, so I analyzed it in the most honest way I could. I began taking acting, directing, and screenwriting classes, which were bigger challenges for me.

W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?

GC: I work with a lot of female film directors since I’m a producer at my production company Cineática Films, and I try to produce mainly women’s films. The most important advice I can give them is to choose their producers carefully, since that is an important choice that affects the outcome of a film.

This is an important relationship and can often be unequal in terms, so if the film is to survive, they must have honest producers that are willing to put in the hours and execute the same vision as the director.

W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.

GC: I don’t have a single favorite director—rather, I have a few. What they all have in common is that they make intense, sensible, and deep movies that you just can’t stop watching until they are over. I love the films that capture your attention and tell a deep story. Some of these directors Andrea Arnold, Jane Campion, Lynne Ramsay, Lisa Langseth, Claire Denis, Ava DuVernay, Lina Wertmüller, Lucía Puenzo, and Tatiana Huezo.

W&H: It’s been a little over a year since the reckoning in Hollywood and the global film industry began. What differences have you noticed since the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements launched?

GC: When I was young and innocent, I thought, “How lucky am I, for I have the same rights as a man!” Twenty years later, having lived, given birth, filmed my first movie, and produced some others, I have discovered that this is not really the case. Although we may have the same rights on paper, in reality this is not the case. I don’t currently –nor will I ever — have the same rights as a man because society doesn’t see us as equals for opportunities.

Just to give you an example, while I was filming “Mala Noche,” I heard how people in the industry refer to male directors as “masters” or something to that effect. But they never refer the same way when speaking about a female director. In the arena of filmmaking, we give more weight to men’s work than women’s. Why is that?

I’m starting to notice subtle changes, but they aren’t equal in all the fields of this industry. I am quite happy that South by Southwest has a high percentage of participating films that have been directed by women—about 60 percent, which is more than other festivals. Once I found out about this, I felt that I was in the right place at the right time, and I’m part of something much bigger that is happening right now.