The 2011 Sheffield Doc Fest was one of the best they have ever put on this year with films, workshops, and parties happening all over the pace. TNC always like it when a festival has a student category as it shows they are more than aware that the next generation of filmmakers are going to come from the hundreds of students who make up a very nice part of the UK film scene.
We are very lucky to share our interview with Raul Paz Pastrana who’s movie “Art of Remembrance” is going to be shown at Sheffield Doc Fest Saturday 11th 10:15am. The films is also in the running for The Sheffield Student Doc Award.
How did you get into filmmaking has this always been a passion?
Foreign films and documentaries have always been a passion of mine. I got into filmmaking in 2003, when a friend invited me to work with him using video to interview the efforts of Indigenous Lakota to bring the Buffalo back to their land at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota U.S. Afterwards I realized the power of documentaries to empower communities and to inspire people into action.
What was the first film/director that inspired you?
Charlie Chaplin is a great inspiration for me. He was one of the first filmmakers to switch the paradigm of the hero from a privileged bourgeois class to the immigrant working class hero. I am also inspired by documentaries that tell powerful unique stories and who take their artistic technique to a professional level. There is nothing worse than to have access to a great story but do a poor job with the film.
The Art of Remembrance trailer from Trailer 88 on Vimeo.
What is it about documentary films that have appealed to you?
The heroes of documentaries are real people struggling against great obstacles or who tell great stories. The human drama that unfolds in documentaries not only changes the audience or the main characters, but also changes history; each choice that the characters make influence people in our world, something fiction can’t do.
Tell us about your film, what is your approach, how do you come up with your projects?
My film is about death. Death is a universal concept. We all die, but all of us in our different cultures deal with it differently. I am from Mexico and although we grieve the departure of our loved ones we make sure to celebrate them once a year with happiness and joy. This however is not a western tradition, it comes from our indigenous roots. In this film my character is Dani Valle a Mexican immigrant in New York City who is creating an altar for the death, and who challenges our notion of the meaning of life and death by explaining the Indigenous version of the Mexican Day of the Dead.
I approach each film differently. Sometimes the story comes as I am shooting, other times when I am editing, but mostly they come when I am reflecting about the story at night, or after walking my dog. However, I am always very respectful of my characters. They are opening their lives for me to document with my camera and it is very important not to forget that.
Somehow great stories seem to find me without much trying. I already have 5 to 6 projects that I want to do. That said I have some criteria that I follow before I start a project; one the hero must be indigenous or from a minority culture hence the obstacle that must be overcome is greater; and two it has to be a social or cultural issue. After I decide to start a film then I brainstorm the idea with people I trust like my fiancée or close friends.
Your film is nominated in the Student category at this years Sheffield Doc Festival , a truly magnificent achievement, have you had time to let this settle in?
I am just beginning to settle on this great honor. This is my first short documentary film and my first project for school and to have it nominated for best student documentary film in Sheffield and as a semifinalist for the Student Academy Awards is just beyond my expectations.
What was did it feel like when you got the news?
It was interesting because Hussein saw the movie and asked if Sheffield could screen the film for the festival, and of course I said yes. Apparently they lost my application but received the DVD copy of the film. I felt in disbelief at first, but that quickly turned into happiness. I guess I felt many things, but at the end I felt happy and a great sense of accomplishment, after all this is one of the biggest documentary film festivals in the world.
What have been the challengers you have faced, what help/advice have you sought?
The world of documentary film is very small in the United States. It is usually the same people who make all the documentary films. The challenge right now is to make my work noticed in the documentary community.
Through my school in NYC I have met professors and other students who like my work and who have been great support for me. I always ask them for help, specially with distribution, which is the hardest thing to learn for me (but am getting there).
What do you want people to take away from your film?
There are many things that I want people to take away from my film. I want people to learn about the Mexican Day of the Dead. I want to introduce them to a great Mexican immigrant artist in New York City. Mostly I want to challenge people about the meaning of life and death, and show them that death also deserves to be celebrated.
What has been your biggest sacrifice or difficulties that you have encountered?
There are many sacrifices that I have made. One was to move to a city as big as New York. I have sacrificed a lot of time from my personal life in order to get started making documentaries. I am really grateful to my fiancé Emily Parkey for her understanding and support, otherwise I don’t think that I could be doing this.
What advice would you give other filmmakers?
Make documentaries that not only tell great stories but that are artistically and professionally well done. Use your camera and editing work not to tell your story but as tools to make the dream of your film a reality, story always comes first before technique. And finally don’t be afraid to get your work into festivals or to ask for help, in the documentary world no one gives you anything, you must ask and be humble when you do it.
Finally, what are you working on now?
Right now I am working on my thesis film for my MFA at the School of Visual Arts in New York City “THE HUAORANI: Savages of the Oriente | Protectors of the Forest.” The film is about the Huaorani of the Amazon jungle of Oriente, one of Ecuador’s oldest and most isolated indigenous groups. I am about to leave to the Amazon jungle to start shooting in the field, this is the reason why I could not be at Sheffield this year.
Please check the film “THE HUAORANI: Savages of the Oriente | Protectors of the Forest” on facebook and on kickstart page:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002447739471
Kickstart: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/34840787/the-huaorani-savages-of-oriente-protectors-of-the
