“I stepped back, it was a message from Cannes, my film El Paisa had been accepted to be shown at the AmPav’s Emerging Filmmaker Showcase, I couldn’t believe it,” Daniel shares with Parriva.
Daniel Eduvijes Carrera was fully occupied with the post-production plans for his new short film, Fiat Lux 500.
A phone call came in, which he ignored.
Not recognizing the phone number, he let it ring. Minutes later, he listened to the voicemail.
“I stepped back, it was a message from Cannes, my film El Paisa had been accepted to be shown at the AmPav’s Emerging Filmmaker Showcase, I couldn’t believe it,” Daniel shares with Parriva.
It was a bittersweet message; on one hand, his work was being recognized by one of the most important festivals in the world, but on the other, perhaps attending was not feasible. All the grants he had received had been invested in Fiat Lux 5000 and funds were scarce.
For Daniel, it had been a wild year. El Paisa, the short film to be presented at Cannes, continues to be recognized in various representations. His new film is about to be presented in June at LALIFF, and now Cannes recognizes his work and places him in a sphere where he continues to roll and ascend.
This young filmmaker has been named one of the most promising voices of nouveau cinema. His stories, his work, and his final delivery have never ceased to surprise critics and audiences.
It’s not a coincidence.
Since he was a child, Daniel dreamed and created stories and characters.
“I always collected everything related to what I saw. My learning began with television, and then, whenever there was an opportunity, my mom would take me to the movies. I grew up watching the films of Vicente Fernández and Pedrito Fernández, then ET and others,” he recalls.
This young filmmaker has been named one of the most promising voices of nouveau cinema.
But not only that, during family gatherings, he would film, asking his cousins and nieces to be part of the story.
“I had five sisters, one of them came one day with one of those VHS camcorders, I loved it. During Christmas, and Thanksgiving, I would film everyone. And the best part, since I had many cousins and nieces, I had my cast ready, I didn’t need more. Everyone knew that at the end of the evening, we would all sit down to watch what I had filmed, those were my beginnings as a filmmaker,” he says.
He also kept a journal. There he told stories, what had happened to him, desires, and ideas.
“It’s a good thing Facebook didn’t exist! Imagine, everyone could read it now,” he laughs.
“There were nights when I couldn’t sleep, I spent the whole night thinking about stories, sometimes I dreamed with my eyes closed, other times with my eyes open,” he adds.
When he firmly decided to become a filmmaker, it was after watching the movie El Norte, by Gregory Nava.
“A story about immigrants, he tells me, ‘I said to myself, ‘I can also tell the story of my family,'” he says.
And so he has. El Paisa is a settling of scores with his sexuality and his mother. Fiat Lux 5000 is a story about his father and dementia.
“It’s about a device that can reverse dementia, my father suffers from it and I would like that to happen, to return to those other moments when he was well. It’s science fiction, and like other filmmakers, such as Miguel Angel Caballero (La Balada de Tita), we are making cinema that through science fiction brings us closer to current problems, many of which the Latino community suffers from. I wanted to choose a topic related to healthcare,” he shares.
“You won’t believe it, but when I told my mom she mentioned very worried, ‘Ay, mi’jo, No sé si pueda llegar a Francia (I don’t know if I can make it to France,'” and he bursts out laughing.
When he received the news of his participation in Cannes, he was completely overwhelmed.
“When I sit down to write a story, I know it will consume me completely. Fiat Lux 500 is a celebration of a loss, I like to make positive films, in this case, that loss of my father’s dementia is a way to recover him. Looking towards the future and seeing how we change things, it’s a story of hope,” he says.
The arrival of so many recognitions doesn’t lift his feet off the ground; on the contrary, it immerses him in a learning process.
“The film industry can be a scary place. You go through many dark moments. When I’m alone, of course, I suffer and live them,” he says.
A week before El Paisa is projected in Cannes, France. In a place where the monsters of world cinema will be, Oliver Stone, Francis Ford Coppola, Paolo Sorrentino, and many more, he is still not sure if he can afford the funds to attend the event.
Numerous friends have approached him to motivate him to start a GoFund Me campaign, but he wasn’t convinced, during the course of this interview, he was encouraged. The campaign is open.
During the conversation, I reminded him that El Paisa is not just about him, that his presentation in Cannes is a triumph for the Latino community, the LGBTQ+ community, and Daniel’s own story. Being there is a fair recognition of the Latin cinema produced in Los Angeles and the United States.
He thinks about it.
“Do you know what is one of the most difficult problems you have now?” I ask him. “How will you tell your mom that you’re going to France for the movie screening and she won’t be there, as she does in the United States.”
He laughs again.
“You won’t believe it, but when I told her she sounded worried when she told me, ‘Ay, mi’jo, No sé si pueda llegar a Francia (I don’t know if I can make it to France,'” and he bursts out laughing.
IF YOU WANT TO HELP
Visit the GoFundMe page to help with the expenses of the trip from El Paisa to Cannes.
https://gofund.me/37610e8a
El Paisa: “Ay’mijo, I think you’re finally trying to tell me something.” Daniel Eduvijes
