Melbourne Documentary Film Festival 2019 – Maxima: this land of Mine
On a remote farm deep in the Peruvian Andes, a farmer is putting a halt to the plans of one of the biggest mining companies in the world. Having endured over five years of court proceedings, Máxima Acuña and her family are still fighting to keep the land they have worked so hard for to call their home.
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Mariel Sosa
Watch Maxima: this land of Mine on Vimeo
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
As a filmmaker, I thrive to deliver an honest presentation of the story and the characters. You owe your film nothing but the truth. At the start of my formative years during college, I had struggled to find my voice as a Latina filmmaker. On a predominantly white campus, I feared that by showing Latino characters or Latino influences in my films, other students or even professors would not appreciate it.
The first two films I ever did featured white protagonists—ones I ended up choosing by default, the normative you’ll often see in Hollywood films. As I became more involved in social organizations and developed a bigger community around me, I started asking myself why. Why was I so afraid? Why did I have to align with the normative? Why couldn’t my stories or my characters reflect who I am?
I realized it was my job to make my own normative. If we really want to see a change in the way movies portray Latinx people and communities, I realized I had to take an active role in making sure I provided representation and voices to those who share my own culture and heritage.
The first time I heard about Maxima, I was in high school: A woman from the Peruvian highlands, Máxima Acuna, had been enduring more than five years of legal procedures in order to protect her land from mining drilling activities. After that, it was not until college that her name made a new appearance: news broke that she had won her case at the Supreme Court. From that moment, I decided to embark on a journey to re-discover her figure and her story from her own perspective.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
As a woman filmmaker, I’ve been fighting people my whole life to prove that I can be a filmmaker. And it’s this fight that has marked the stories I tell and will continue to do so as I grow. So, when bringing the story of Maxima into the screen, I wanted my vision to narrow in on fighters. The film unwraps a journey that sets the viewer at over 12,000 feet of elevation, surrounded by the tranquility of the valleys and the blinding sun. Maxima takes us inside the beauty of her routine. You learn what she cherishes, to later see how it's all taken away. No matter where the viewer comes from, everyone can relate to the feelings of home, family and loss. The film doesn't tell the story of a heroine, instead, it depicts a woman whose suffering drives her to become a figure of resistance.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Even though we came from different backgrounds, I talked to Máxima on the set woman to woman about what is like to fight for something you love when you have all the odds stacked against you. She became a true inspiration to me—someone with so much courage and determination, engaged in a legal battle against one of the richest companies in the world without being able to read or write. There might be only one Máxima, but women enduring similar conflicts are many.
After I told Máxima’s story, I realized that my connection to the film was stronger because what was inside of it represented me. Making a film about Máxima was just the beginning of my journey to give voice to those that are often unheard of—to make stories that need me.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
I came down to Peru, thinking I was going to make a story about how mining companies such as Yanacocha use their corporal power to shut down farmers such as Maxima. However, the minute I stepped into her house and spent the first night with her, I could feel the love that she has for her little piece of land. I knew no one in this world would ever convince Maxima to leave the place she calls home. From there, the film took its own shape and became a story of resistance instead of oppression.
Moments like these are not only unique, but they are also reminders that you are dealing with something purely real. It is a person unveiling and entrusting their deepest secrets to you, a complete stranger.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
One of the most rewarding parts of this whole experience was establishing a conversation with the audience. I feel very fortunate when an audience member comes up to me after a screening and asks me how can they help, ... and that's what filmmaking is ultimately about, presenting people with stories that carve out emotions.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
When I observe how people interact with the film and the protagonist it only validates more the power of that storytelling and film have in our society, and how that power should be used in favor of humanity.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
As a new filmmaker, I am looking to give voice to Maxima's story and use this platform and opportunity to make the message more visible for everyone that reads it.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
In order to spread a film, it takes a village of people, but journalists always play a keen role to shed the light into films that otherwise would remain unnoticed --- especially nowadays with the power of social media. In addition, I would like to reach film festival directors and distributors, who take on the important job to keep spreading the film to different and broader audiences.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
There's the obvious answer of seeking to raise awareness in viewers about the topic of mining pollution and the danger to local communities, but more than that, it's my desire to drive people to action.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
An indigenous woman with no academic background is able to fight a big corporate monster all by herself, what can we do from our privileged status?
Would you like to add anything else?
Hope everyone enjoys the film, takes something out of it afterwards.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am culminating post-production on a documentary film about gang injunctions we shot in Fullerton, CA last year. It is my first big documentary project done in the States, and it deals with a very local social problem involving minorities in California. I'm also currently working in a future script for an upcoming fiction project, after having a long break from the narrative world.
Interview: June 2019
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, 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
Maxima: this land of Mine
On a remote farm deep in the Peruvian Andes, a farmer is putting a halt to the plans of one of the biggest mining companies in the world. Having endured over five years of court proceedings, Máxima Acuña and her family are still fighting to keep the land they have worked so hard for to call their home.
Length: 16:03
Director: Mariel Sosa
Producer: Mariel Sosa
Writer: Mariel Sosa
About the writer, director and producer:
MARIEL SOSA, a Peruvian Director and Photographer, was born in 1996. She graduated with a Bachelors degree in Film Production and Art History at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, a city she now calls home. During her college years, she worked for London Alley Entertainment, a music video production company. During that time, Sosa also worked and produced several independent short films, video clips, and documentaries. Her first documentary, Phantasiaman, produced in Germany, was screened in Seattle at the largest youth film festival in the world. Her experience as a Peruvian woman in the industry has allowed her to dig deeper into portraying stories that encircle marginalized and unrepresented communities.
Key cast: Maxima Acuña, Mirtha Vasquez, Sergio Sanchez, Jaime Chaupe, Daniel Chaupe.
Looking for: producers, journalists, film festival directors, distributors
Twitter: @marielsosa96
Instagram: @mariel_sosa
Hashtags used: #Maxima
Website: www.maximathislandofmine.com
Other: Vimeo
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Melbourne Documentary Film Festival/Melbourne, Australia- 19th-30th July 2019.