Interview with Leigh Marling, director of “Ana Paula”, awarded Best Narrative Short (Grand Jury Prize) of Spring 2024.

Directed by Leigh Marling, the disturbing 46-minute film revolves around a young woman seeking to retrieve her dignity, become a mother and – after a life of exploitation and abuse – learn to trust a man who loves her.

Filmed on location in Durango, Mexico, with a non-professional local cast, “Ana Paula” is the heart breaking story of a young woman determined to escape her dark past and adopt her niece from a government orphanage.

To meet the strict criteria for adoption, Ana is working at a local hotel, attending interviews at the orphanage, and trying to save money for an apartment. When a judge explains her case cannot proceed for lack of a ‘suitable home’, Ana employs desperate measures to find the necessary cash.

An admiring co-worker – Fernando – sees her desperation and offers to help, but after Ana agrees she finds herself drawn into a tragic romance. Soon, Ana’s past comes back to haunt her. She is pulled back into a toxic life of vice that brings her into direct conflict with Fernando, her own inner demons, and the ruthless criminals who seek to destroy any chance of Ana becoming a mother.

A powerful cinematic experience evoking themes such as femicide, domestic abuse and sexual exploitation that have become endemic in Mexican society. “The government statistic report around 10 women are murdered every day in gender based attacks. Add to those, the tens of thousands of females who have been ‘disappeared’ and those grim statistics seem to underestimate the crisis in ongoing violence against women. In the face of this, courageous and determined women have sought to become organized to protect themselves and lobby the authorities to take action against the ongoing violence, yet doing this brings more danger as they often become targeted themselves”, states the filmmaker.

Against this backdrop and during many long research trips to Mexico, Leigh Marling met some of these women and became inspired to create a film about one of them.

Cal Film Festival: A budget of 95,000 USD. Is it scary enough for a first time filmmaker? How was it possible to finance this budget?

Leigh Marling: We scraped together money from colleagues, friends and family. It wasn’t easy and – at times – a bit stressful, to be honest. But we managed it in the end.

Cal Film Festival: The initial plan was a film of about 45 minutes length? That’s a difficult length to be screened in theaters.

Originally we planned to make a feature, but we only had the resources to make the shorter film. There was no planned length during shooting, the film just ended up that way.

Cal Film Festival: How long was the shooting and which were the main challenges on the set? And why did you decide to work with a non-professional cast?

Leigh Marling: We were able to shoot for 7 days with a full crew and 2 more days in a ‘guerilla’ style, picking up B-Roll footage. We worked with a non professional cast from Durango out of necessity. We could not afford to bring actors from elsewhere. The process was actually thrilling. we spent a lot of time finding the local cast and belief it has added to the authenticity of the final film.

Cal Film Festival: How was the experience with lead actress Itzel Castrellon, who had the job of delivering a very challenging performance?

Leigh Marling: Itzel was amazing to work with. A real natural actress. When we found her, she was studying at a college of hair and makeup. Her talent stood out immediately and she has an unbelievable ability to live in the emotional reality of her character.

Cal Film Festival: This is disturbing work. Have you considered setting some boundaries thinking in the audiences or you just followed what you really wanted to do?

Leigh Marling: During the preproduction process, we interviewed many young women who are sex workers. Many of their stories are particularly tragic and full of hardship. We wanted to show their world without any exploitation or gratuitous scenes and to maintain Ana’s dignity and undefeated spirit throughout the film

Cal Film Festival: What do you want to tell the audience with “Ana Paula”?

Leigh Marling: We did not have a specific message for the audience. I suppose we sought to inspire people with a story that shows how a determined character can overcome adversity. I feel like all the best stories do this and the audience can relate to that.

Cal Film Festival: How difficult is it to make the audience believe in the characters and feel emotionally linked?

Leigh Marling: By shooting a non-professional cast, in real locations with a simple relatable story of overcoming adversity, we hoped we could connect with our audience.

Cal Film Festival: What influences do you think “Ana Paula” has?

Leigh Marling: We were very influenced by the films of the Dardenne Brothers – Like ‘The Child’ and ‘The Son’. Simple stories about characters struggling at the edges of society.

Cal Film Festival: Are you happy with the final result or would you change something?

Leigh Marling: For me as a filmmaker, the sentiment that ‘you never finish your work, you abandon it’ makes a lot of sense. It was such a rewarding process, but at the same time there are so many things I wish I could have done better. But I save that for the next project. Experience is everything and this experience will improve the next project.

Cal Film Festival: After your experience as a first time filmmaker, do you have any advice for other independent filmmakers, particularly the newcomers?

Leigh Marling: Never give up. If things go wrong find another way. Just keep going.

Cal Film Festival: What are your overall career goals and what’s next?

Leigh Marling: We are planning another feature length project based in the same world, using Ana Paula as ‘proof of concept’.

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