lalo is a Laguna boy who was born in Cereso de Torreón. She was not more than four years old when she took him in on Hostel of Father Manuelitowhere he went from being a boy who could barely speak to one of the best in his class, ambitious and talented, who aspires to become an architect.
But the COVID-19 pandemic His plans changed and, due to the sanitary measures, he was sent to live with his aunt, who adopted him with great affection, but in much lesser living conditions than those he had in the foster home. Now a 16-year-old teenager, he must drop out of school to work and support his new family.
This is the story that the short film tells “The colors of my footprint”, directed by brenda garciawhich is in the selection process to be nominated for a ariel award in its next edition.
In an interview with VANGUARDIA, the team made up of Coahuila artists, recounted how the process of making this film was, how they met Lalo and how the pandemic impacted the project.
“We wanted to tell the reality of a violated childhood, sheltered childhoods, welcomed in a group home, but that had the main characteristic that they were there because they were violated and they were separated from their families because of that,” García commented.
Lalo was known before the pandemic and his original intention was to document his life in the shelter, but the changes brought by the pandemic ruined that plan – among many others globally. In this situation, your adviser Everardo Gonzalez, who was part of the project thanks to Support for the Production of Short Films by Region that they received from IMCINE To carry it out, he urged them to tell this new dimension of the story and so in December 2020 the recordings began.
After leaving the shelter, Lalo’s living conditions changed.
“We wanted to tell his story without the need to want to fix or change his life, because it is not up to us, but at least to tell his story and show it so that more people can see it.. It was shocking to be with him all day, every day and seeing his environment, which was very complicated, but despite that we always saw in him a hopeful message, from a boy who, despite all the adversities, wanted and planned to break like that karma, that destiny”, added José Luis Rivera, producer of the short.
IT MAY INTEREST YOU: Cristina Cordero impresses with her mastery of the viola together with the OFDC
Humberto Casaseditor and assistant director, as well as a collaborator of this medium, remembers that the young man said more “with his silences, with his gaze”, since he was rather shy when speaking.
“I even remember that one of the interviews that helped us the most was at a very unexpected moment (…) and I think it was because he also had a little more confidence in us as he got to know the whole team. It moved me a lot to talk to him because of that, because it was difficult to get the words out of him.but once he told us and that he opened up in the interview, it was like a very magical moment, ”he shared.
The creatives agreed on how much the project was changed from what they had planned, but that’s how the documentary world is. The most difficult thing, commented Casas, is “not to miss out on giving him the message that he is a guy with hopes, with dreams, because it was very easy to go towards the melodramatic and miss that point. I remember that even Gerardo told us how much this point must be respected, this fine line of not going towards melodrama.
The “Los colores de mi huella” team, which already received a special mention in the Coahuila Film Festival 2021, and won the award for Best Documentary Short at the Short to the Point Film Festival 2022 in Transylvania and the Moscow Shorts 2022in addition to being part of the official selection of various festivals, including Shorts Mexico and DOCSMxis still awaiting the results of the jury of the Ariel Awards
