Vanessa McMahon

 

 

MARTA ROSA (2015), a short film by Barbara Cigarroa, won the Panavision Best North American Short and Best Student Live Action short 15 Minutes and Under prizes at Palm Springs International Shortfest.

 

Synopsis: Immediately following the death of her young child, Marta Rosa, a rural, Mexican woman, must struggle to persevere through both her own internal grief and the harsh realities of the external world around her.

 

In a recent interview with Barbara on her film MARTA ROSA, here is what she had to say:

 

How did you come up with the theme of losing a child? Has this happened in your family or do you know someone who has gone through this?

 

Tania Zarak, the writer and the producer of the film, saw a photograph of a Mexican woman walking through the streets of Mexico City with a baby coffin. Touched by the image, she wrote a short screenplay about it. She shared it with me and showed me the photograph alongside it. Just like with Tania, the image moved me. Who was this woman? Why was she carrying a coffin? Who was inside of it? Her child? Soon, we discovered it was her child.  I couldn't imagine the emotions this woman was feeling, the perseverance she had in moving forward, in walking through a busy city while hugging tight a box that symbolized her baby's death. 

 

At the time of filming, I was actually dealing with the death of a close uncle; and I think that those emotions, that energy, probably fueled some of the directorial choices I made,  as well as fueled my connection with the script –  the empathy and understanding I had for Marta Rosa.  While no one in my immediate family has dealt with the death of a young child, I do have some close family friends that have gone through the experience. Their loss and grief is unspeakable; but I find within them an unbreakable strength to keep living, to keep moving; There is a perseverance within them, a will to move forward, that I can only imagine is for the memory of their child. That is their story. That is the story of Marta Rosa. 

 

Your film says so much about the universality of the loss of a loved one but what can you say about such a loss in the face of extreme poverty? Do you think people help each other and come together more in poor communities?

 

I think that oftentimes when we think about death, we think about grief – and that is natural. Oftentimes though, we forget about the tasks required  after the death of a loved one. Buying a coffin, a plot of land, planning a ceremony, etc. For many people all around the world, who must deal with death in the face of extreme poverty, such tasks are impossible. They just don't have the resources to say goodbye in the same way that others do. Oftentimes, I think that in these poorer communities, there is a culture of coming together, of uniting for the sake of one person, one family, and helping strangers out as if family. It's easy to turn a blind eye, but I think for many communities and cultures like these there is a code of helping – and I think that is a beautiful thing; helping someone out in the face of grief, allowing them to say goodbye.  

 

How did you find your actress Adriana Paz?

 

Adriana Paz is amazing. She actually just won the Ariel in Mexico, which is their version of the Academy Awards. As far as finding her, it was pretty easy. I was discussing with my producer, Tania, the type of actresses we were looking for. Adriana's name kept coming up. It happened that the Morelos Film Commission director had recently worked with her and might even have been family related (I can't quite remember). But, they put us in contact with her. She read the script and just like that she signed on. The story really resonated with her. She had just had her first child and was very sensitive towards the subject. She understood the character, and our collaboration on set was great. Working with her was amazing. And she is such a wonderful talent. 
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Do people ever ask you about the baby and how she died?

  

People do ask me that. For awhile, prior to the shoot, I was contemplating whether the script should refer to it – what happened, was it sudden, expected, etc? But then I realized, no matter how it happened, that loss is still so great. I didn't want to explain too much. I wanted to just let the emotions play out in this realistic, silent manner, where, without asking questions, one can relate to the grief happening in front of them on screen.  I wanted to tell the story of how this woman, Marta Rosa,  navigates the world in the immediate aftermath of this tragic event. I feel that explaining too much might have taken away from that. It might have taken away from the universality of it.

 

Since this film has been so successful already, do you think you will turn this into a feature?

 

I'm not sure if I would turn this specific film into a feature ( I think the story works well for a short ) but maybe I would take some of themes from it – death in the face of poverty, perseverance after loss, rural life vs. urban life, etc – and incorporate them into a feature length script. These are themes I feel I am always thinking of so I'm sure they'll probably come up again. I would also love to film in Tetela del Volcan, a small town in Morelos, again. So, I think I'll definitely take the experiences I had from this production – using the place, the people, the characters – and think of  using them in a longer film. It was wonderful shooting in Mexico and I"m sure I'll do it again. 

 

What was your experience at PSSFF and how were the responses to this film?

 

My experience at Palm Springs was amazing. It was my first film festival and it was the world premiere of "Marta Rosa" and I could not have asked for a better festival to showcase it at. The response to the film was beyond anything I could have imagined. I am extremely grateful and honored to have been awarded the Best Student Live Action Under 15 minute award as well as the Panavision Best North American Short Award. All the films at the festival were so well done and I am honored to have been a part of such an amazing group of films and filmmakers. As the festival came to an end, I felt like I had made lasting friendships with an amazing group of talented filmmakers. Furthermore, because of the festival, I have had the opportunity to speak to distributors, programmers, producers, casting agents, and journalists from all over the world. 

 

What are your plans next for this film and for future projects?