Nine-year-old Maribel explains to us how it feels to be stricken with the world's oldest infliction: love.

Interview with Writer/Director Horatio Baltz

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

I made the film while attending a practical filmmaking workshop in Cuba led by Werner Herzog and organized by Black Factory Cinema (Spain) and EICTV (Cuba). The purpose of the workshop was to produce, shoot, and edit a 5 minute film in 2 weeks set on the Cuban countryside while under the steely-eyed tutelage of Werner. I had researched a few Cuban superstitions and came across a particularly peculiar one: 1. You write a love interest's name on a piece of paper. 2. You put that piece of paper in the freezer. 3. That person falls in love with you. After chasing down some leads on refrigerator repairmen and getting not-so-politely kicked out of a government owned repair shop, I refocused the film to the essence of the superstition: the hope of finding true love.

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

I think the film is a unique look into the world of a 9 year old girl, Maribel, and a not-so-typical documentary about Cuba.

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

The film focuses on Maribel's experience of falling in love, but more specifically, her experience of feeling love struck. Being love struck isn't necessarily the same as being in love -- I think it's a more specific feeling that's somewhat of a combination between love, worry, and fear. Maribel was able to articulate this specific feeling extraordinarily well, and I think it's disarming.

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?

I chased around different angles for this film before finally landing on the current cut. From the start, I knew I didn't want to do a film about the embargo, cigars, or Castro. I wanted to do something that spoke to larger themes, something that divorced Cuba from the banalities of its geopolitical circumstances.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

It has been warm, and people say that this could be a 9 year old girl anywhere in the world which is the point of the film. Everything that Maribel says seems so familiar.

Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?

No. It has made me wish I spent more time shooting with Maribel.

What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?

I'd like to see more films about the Cuban people and not about the Cuban government in the world and accessible to wider audiences.

Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?

It being a short, I'd love to have it continue to play the festival circuit. After that -- I'm not sure.

What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?

I'd love to show the film to old white men who wield power and ask them if Maribel's dreams are less valid than ours.

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

What is the purpose of the US embargo on Cuba?

Would you like to add anything else?

Watch the film during Slamdance: Sunday January 21 at 1:30 PM and Wednesday Jan 24 at 11AM at Treasure Mountain Inn in Park City.

What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?

A blacklisted Cuban punk rock band struggles to get their anti-Castro music to wider audiences while facing constant harassment by Cuban government officials.

Interview: January 2018

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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTIAQ+, scifi, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela

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True Love in Pueblo Textil

Nine-year-old Maribel explains to us how it feels to be stricken with the world's oldest infliction: love.

Length: 5 minutes

Director: Horatio Baltz

Producer: Black Factory Cinema

Writer: Horatio Baltz

About the writer, director and producer:

Horatio Baltz is a Queens based filmmaker and photographer. His documentary short True Love in Pueblo Textil has screened at IDFA, the Havana Film Festival, DOC Buenos Aires, and Slamdance.

Key cast: Maribel as herself

Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):

Journalists, festival directors

Funders: Self funded

Made in association with: Black Factory Cinema & EICTV

Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?

Slamdance: Sunday January 21 at 1:30 PM and Wednesday Jan 24 at 11AM at Treasure Mountain Inn in Park City, Utah. Documentary Shorts Block