Caribbean Beat — November/December 2018 (#154)
A calendar of events; music, film, and book reviews; travel features; people profiles, and much more.
A calendar of events; music, film, and book reviews; travel features; people profiles, and much more.
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screenshots<br />
courtesy natalia cabral and oriol estrada<br />
“Half of what we are<br />
makes us feel ashamed”<br />
Natalia Cabral and Oriol Estrada are filmmakers based in the Dominican<br />
Republic <strong>—</strong> she’s from there, he’s from Spain. Together they’ve made two<br />
acclaimed documentaries. Now comes Miriam Lies, their first fiction feature.<br />
Miriam (Dulce Rodríguez) is a mixed-race girl who falls in love online with a<br />
boy. When she discovers he’s black, Miriam can’t abide it, and begins spinning<br />
falsehoods to him, her family, and best friend. Meanwhile Miriam’s glamorous<br />
quinceañera party <strong>—</strong> the celebration to mark her fifteenth birthday and coming<br />
of age <strong>—</strong> draws closer.<br />
Elevating itself above similar dramas through its unique subject matter and<br />
understated tone, Miriam Lies is a moving portrait of youth as well as a subtle<br />
critique of a society steeped in unexamined prejudice. Jonathan Ali speaks<br />
with the directors about bringing Miriam and her world to life.<br />
This is your first fiction feature, after<br />
two documentaries. Why the switch?<br />
Natalia Cabral: Actually, Miriam Lies<br />
was our first project. We wrote the<br />
script before we made our two previous<br />
documentaries, but it took us eight<br />
years to gather all the money, so while<br />
we were searching for funds we started<br />
filming other projects.<br />
What was the inspiration?<br />
NC: When I was a teenager, I met this<br />
boy online. We fell in love, but when we<br />
agreed to meet and I realised from a<br />
distance that he was black, I ran away<br />
and never saw him again. This reaction<br />
was a surprise, because until then I<br />
thought I was the open-minded one in<br />
my group of friends and my family. But<br />
as years went by, I realised that I could be<br />
like them, or worse. I understood that if I<br />
wanted to talk about the problems that<br />
concern us as a society, the best way<br />
was to start talking about myself.<br />
Oriol Estrada: Natalia shared this<br />
anecdote with me, and I identified a<br />
possible film, so I encouraged her to<br />
write based on that anecdote. She<br />
started writing from her memories and<br />
I was shaping the story. Reality became<br />
fiction with a world of its own.<br />
How did you cast Dulce Rodríguez,<br />
who plays Miriam?<br />
OE: We saw over five hundred girls.<br />
Dulce was one of the first girls we saw.<br />
She didn’t have any acting experience,<br />
but she caught our eye because<br />
she seemed so much like Miriam <strong>—</strong><br />
intelligent, sensitive, and somewhat<br />
rebellious. In that first interview, she<br />
spoke about the contradictions of her<br />
own life, and understood better than us<br />
what could go through Miriam’s head.<br />
She always told us: “I am Miriam; this<br />
script is my life.”<br />
The Latin American tradition of the<br />
quinceañera is central to the film’s<br />
plot. Can you say something about it?<br />
NC: The quinceañera party works<br />
as a metaphor for my social class’s<br />
behaviour. We try very hard to be<br />
something else. What we really are, if<br />
we can ever understand it, is something<br />
that must be kept hidden. We are not<br />
comfortable with our African origins <strong>—</strong><br />
we prefer our Spanish ancestors and<br />
their legacy, so you could say that half of<br />
what we are makes us feel ashamed, and<br />
we live in denial of it, too.<br />
The DR has seen a film boom in<br />
recent years, with the majority of<br />
productions broad comedies. How<br />
difficult is it to get more thoughtful<br />
films, like yours, made and seen?<br />
NC: Nobody wanted to produce the film.<br />
Then when directors like us finally get<br />
their films done, there is no money left<br />
for advertising. The comedy productions<br />
have big advertising campaigns, so that<br />
is what most people in the DR believe<br />
cinema is: a light comedy that costs<br />
millions of dollars.<br />
OE: Our previous documentaries were<br />
of great interest to critics and other film<br />
professionals, but not so much ordinary<br />
people. We believe that Miriam Lies is<br />
our most emotional film, so we assume<br />
that for a less specialised audience, the<br />
film will have more interest. At least,<br />
that’s what we hope.<br />
Miriam Lies<br />
Directors: Natalia Cabral and<br />
Oriol Estrada<br />
Dominican Republic, <strong>2018</strong><br />
90 minutes<br />
courtesy natalia cabral and oriol estrada<br />
44<br />
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