At 34 years old, David dreams and, at the same time, fears, going back to Haiti, where he was adopted a year after he was born.

Interview with Writer/Director Anais Huerta

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

I made this film to be like a personal search obviously, because I'm asking all the time how we are built, what is the relationship with our ancestors, with our family, with our different cultures, and what kind of bounds link us with the past, through different generations. David is my best friend since we are teenagers. We wanted to do this film together because we talked a lot about those issues when we were younger and it was important for us to do something about it.

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

You should see this film if you are interested in this type of film, you are free to do it. I think the film offers a reflection about our relations with our roots and the need we have to know where we come from to be more confident in the future.

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

David is looking for his roots in Haiti. I think most people, once in their lives, will search for their origins, the story of their family, their community, their country. It's universal, we simply need it. The search of David has an echo with the personal search of his mother, Claire, who is looking for her family who disappeared during the Holocaust.

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

In documentary films the script evolves a lot during the shooting, and mostly during the editing. You start with a question, and little by little you build the structure of the film. In this case we didn't know what David will discover in Haiti, for example. During the shooting the great surprise was the importance of the story of his adoptive family and the central character of Claire, David's mother, her deep reflections on the transmission of values through generations and her personal search.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

At Full Frame the audience was surprised by the narrative and the fictional type of photography. It depends of the country you are in, but it's true that most of the documentary films we can see in United States have a TV type of narrative. I intend to do a film with a cinematic language, far away from a TV type of film, but I know that buyers and sales agents are looking for something else, not only because of the form but regarding the content too. They know they will sell something about a big issue (big data, etc) or about somebody famous. I prefer to do intimate portraits of common people. It's a choice. Maybe one day it will fit with a market fashion. It's an ideological position too: for me common people and their stories are more important for me than the stories we are always watching on screen.

Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?

Some people identify themselves with David and are very moved, some others don't. It's always like that. I think there's a strong universal search in the film, and I'm happy to show it in United States, it will resonate in a different way here. When you make a film you never know what will happen to it. And it's great, there are always surprises. It's like a maternal/paternal position, you have to take care of it but you have to respect its one life and path, and the ways people are receiving it. And you have to be honest with it, with your characters, with the story you are telling. If you are talking about tolerance in it, you have to be tolerant during the promotion of the film.

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

To talk about things we need to talk about! And for people to let hem that this film exists. If festival directors or distributors are interested the door is open! We have more and more movies on the market, it's difficult to find a place to show them but I'm still thinking that a good movie always find its path.

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

Buyers, sales agent, distributor, festival director, journalists! It takes a great team to build a solid promotion of the film!

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

I want to offer a space, and time, of reflection through emotions. When I see people moved, I'm happy, I know that the film has found its public. In Mexico a national TV Channel broadcast it last month. For us it was very important to show the film in festivals and in theaters but on TV we can reach a great number of people and a large audience, and it's not that elitist.

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

It depends where you are screening it. In France we need to talk about the new identity of the country, the new ways to be "French" and to recognize diversity. every country faces racism problems but in different ways. The key question can be: how can we recognize our diversity and complexity in our society's nowadays?

Would you like to add anything else?

I would like to add that Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is incredible: the audience, the team, the atmosphere, the films I had the privilege to see during three days. It was a real pleasure to be there.

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

We are working on different documentary movies and TV series: a long run movie about the search of a disappeared familiar during the Spanish civil war (Dir. Anais Huerta), one about free jazz in Mexico City (Dir. Pablo Enciso), a TV series about young international tennis players (Dir. Raul Cuesta), and one series about freestyle hip hop young artists in the streets of Mexico City (Dir. Anais Huerta).

Interview: April 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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DAVID. THE RETURN TO LAND.

At 34 years old, David dreams and, at the same time, fears, going back to Haiti, where he was adopted a year after he was born.

Length: 95mn

Director: ANAIS HUERTA

Producer: ANAIS HUERTA, RAUL CUESTA

Writer: ANAIS HUERTA

About the writer, director and producer:

Anais Huerta is the co-creator of Amaina Films production company in Mexico City, where she has produced a range of documentaries. She previously directed “Rehje,” an award-winning feature documentary about the life of an indigenous woman in Mexico which screened at more than 70 film festivals across the world. She also teach documentary workshops in Mexico and abroad, and at the Institute of Cinema Studies (CUEC) of the University of Mexico (UNAM).

Key cast: DAVID LARBRE

Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): SALES AGENT, DISTRIBUTOR, BUYERS, FILM FESTIVALS

Social media handles: www.amainadocs.com

Funders: MEXICAN FILM INSTITUTE

Made in association with: AMAINA FILMS

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

The next stop is Cinema Planeta Festival in Cuernavaca, Mexico. After, we will see! In the future it will be broadcast in the Mexican VOD platform FilminLatino.