When a Latinx filmmaker is offered a dream job abroad, she discovers a supernatural way to navigate the U.S. immigration | dG1fNjRLb0lXMXNPSm8
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Hi there, my name is Nico Casavecchia.
00:07 I'm the director of Border Hopper
00:09 that will premiere at the Slenderman Film Festival 2024.
00:12 (upbeat music)
00:15 Border Hopper follows the story of Laura,
00:17 a Latina immigrant like me,
00:18 who unlike me, discovers a supernatural way
00:22 to navigate the US immigration system
00:24 like it was a video game
00:26 in order to get an emergency travel permit
00:28 that she desperately needs.
00:30 (keyboard clacking)
00:31 The short is based on true events.
00:33 I won't spoil them for you,
00:34 but it really happened to me and my wife,
00:36 Mercedes Arturo, who wrote the film with me.
00:38 Have you ever been so deep in shit
00:41 that you think if I put this on a movie,
00:43 nobody will believe it's true?
00:45 Okay, we'll put it in a movie.
00:46 So we'll see what you think.
00:47 (speaking in foreign language)
00:51 Yeah, okay, this is a meet the artist.
00:54 So yes, I'll tell you about myself.
00:55 I'm from Argentina.
00:56 I've been an immigrant most of my life.
00:58 What else?
00:59 Love for Cinema started doing films with my friends
01:01 when we were kids.
01:02 We would mash all sort of things together
01:05 because the only thing that mattered to us
01:07 was telling stories.
01:08 And that approach to making things
01:10 evolved into the filmmaking style I use today.
01:13 In my films, I still combine live action,
01:15 VFX, animation to tell stories,
01:17 like in "Finding Sofia," my first feature,
01:20 which is a mixed media rom-com,
01:21 or "Battlescar," a VR film I co-directed
01:24 with my friend Martine Allais,
01:25 starring the amazing Rosario Dawson.
01:28 I still love saying that.
01:30 - Nailed it.
01:32 - And in "Border Hopper,"
01:33 I wanted to create a breathless horror comedy
01:36 and use magical realism and animation
01:38 to heighten the character's experience.
01:41 I wanted the film to be a descent into madness
01:44 through candy color, sugar, fuel, video game nightmares,
01:48 which is incidentally how living in America
01:51 feels to me some days.
01:53 - That's true.
01:54 - I'm so excited that Sundance audiences
01:56 get to experience the work of this insanely talented team,
02:00 crew, cast, everyone, that put so much effort,
02:03 sweat, and tears in making this film.
02:06 So thank you very much for watching.
02:08 I hope you love "Border Hopper."
02:10 See you in Park City.
02:11 (upbeat music)
02:18 (dramatic music)
02:21 (upbeat music)
02:23 [BLANK_AUDIO]