Re-encounters Explores Artistic Response to Migration A New Film Captures Inspiration to Repopulate Ghost-towns in Mexico
Currently in its initial stages, Re-encounters is focused on this large-scale, sculpture project. The new film brings to the screen Santiago’s inspirations as well as the physical labor it takes to build 2501 clay migrants in homage to the people who left his hometown in the sierra. Director/Producer Yolanda Cruz of Petate Productions not only points the lens toward this monumental endeavor, but also will meet face-to-face with stories of hope, fear, dreams, detriment and everything on the road between. The film will add a voice to silent clay sculptures, figures that represent migrants reconciling past and present in places they remember as home but are now hollowed houses, abandoned fields, and deserted roads. This symbolic exploration of migrants’ suffering strikes a cord with Cruz’s personal life. “Walking among the sculptures I am flooded with memories of going to the border in Texas to pick up the body of a 17 year-old girl from my hometown,” says Cruz. “She died after a four-day walk with very little water and no food. Immigration agents found her dead, her body decomposed. A mortuary worker handed me a plastic bag containing her brown dress, shining earrings, and love notes. She was the first dead migrant our community mourned. I knew she wouldn’t be the last. Santiago’s clay sculptures depict this harsh reality of rural life in Mexico.” Despite the solemn truth of border crossings, Cruz has an upbeat vision for the film. .. /.. |
Los Angeles – An unsettling homecoming to an empty village in Mexico has inspired a set of imaginative responses in unexpected places. Re-encounters: Between Memories and Nostalgia is a new documentary about the response of one Oaxacan artist, Alejandro Santiago, to the impact of migration on rural Mexico. The film adds another layer to the creative process of Santiago’s project that aims to repopulate his village with life-size clay sculptures.