‘Blue Caprice’ w/ Ivan Herrerra

Full Transcript of Technicolor Theatre podcast: Season 3, Episode 4

Aditya is joined by filmmaker Ivan Herrera to talk about portraying life in the Dominican Republic, the objectivity of the camera, and Alexandre Moors’ 2013 film Blue Caprice.

The episode aired on April 22, 2021 and can be found here. Full transcript (below) was captured by Madelyn Gee.

Aditya Joshi: Hello and welcome to Technicolor Theater, a podcast about representation on film. My name is Aditya Joshi and joining me today is Ivan Herrera. Ivan, so nice to meet you.

Ivan Herrera: Nice to meet you. Thanks for having me here.

Aditya: We’re here to talk about two movies. One is Blue Caprice. One is your I think feature directorial debut which premiered at South by Southwest and I had a chance to see it, I think 10 days ago. I thought it was really, really excellent — Bantú Mama. Before we talk about any movie, I would love it if you could just introduce yourself to our listeners and talk a little bit about how you identify and where you’re from.

Ivan: Great. I’m Ivan Herrera from the Dominican Republic. I was born and raised in Santo Domingo, which is on the south coast of the island and I decided to move to the north coast. Now I live on the north coast of the island. We have the Atlantic Ocean in front of us. I run a production service company here in the Dominican Republic, basically a base on the north coast. Providing services for foreign productions that want to come and shoot in the Caribbean. I also run my own writing studio with my partner Clarice, and we write and direct our own projects.

Aditya: Amazing. Clarice, though she’s not the call, is also the star and co-writer of Bantú Mama.

Ivan: Yeah, totally. Bantú Mama is a film that we did together. The concept, writing and producing. She actually plays the main role in the film.

Aditya: Yeah, she was really great in it. This podcast is really about representation and seeing yourself on screen. There are two interesting things here. One is we don’t often talk to filmmakers who were not born and raised in the United States. Representation is so different, I think, depending on what kind of movies get sent to the place or the theaters as you’re growing up. Then the second interesting thing here is that Bantú Mama is the first Dominican film to show at South by Southwest, which is a huge kind of groundbreaking thing.

I imagined maybe five or ten years from filming this podcast, someone will come to me and want to talk about Bantú Mama. I would love to know a little bit about growing up in South Domingo and the Dominican. What was your experience with seeing yourself on screen? Was it a lot of movies? Is there a big industry — I actually don’t know that. In the DR, are a lot of exports that you got?

Ivan: Actually growing up in the Dominican Republic, you don’t really grow up close to so many art and culture events. You do get your own local stuff, but you don’t really get the same access like in Europe or in the U.S. So you have to either have parents that care about and try to teach you, show you and take you to the theater. We have a theater and cinema industry, but mostly it is like blockbusters. You just have to either search for yourself or your family has to take you to guide you in that process.

For me it was a mix of both — My parents did care. Actually, my mom introduced me to music and she also took us to the theater, etc. But then, if you want to run away from blockbusters and you want to go more independent, you will have to dig in. You have to hustle. I guess I was growing up and hustling, maybe not that much into films but into reggae music. We’re in the Caribbean and we’re not really big in reggae, but reggae was something that I liked a lot. Same with hip hop and so you have to search, hustle and you have to find your way.

Aditya: Yeah, so growing up with blockbusters, I imagine you mean American blockbusters?

Ivan: Right. These summer blockbusters that come to the theater. The theory is that cinemas make sure that people go and see the movies.

Aditya: Was there a movie — either a blockbuster or an independent movie — that you found that came to you and you were like, “Wow, this is really cool. I want to do this thing.”

Ivan: I really heard a lot of people saying, “Yeah, just cover cinema.” I knew I wanted to do this because I saw this movie. I said, like, “I want to do this in my life.” I don’t think that’s my case exactly? I think film came in another way. Of course, growing up seeing all the movies that you know kids growing up in the ’80s watched. The Goonies and all of those. I remember License to Drive. All those movies that we had. Once I got to the university, I had a teacher who would screen Argentinian films for us. That was really one that changed my perspective on what I wanted to pursue. Maybe I didn’t know how to get there yet. I was like, “Wow, I was really impacted.” It’s by Eliseo Subiela and the film is A Man Facing Southeast.

Aditya: I have not heard about it, but I’ll check it out.

Ivan: Oh, man, you will love it. I think you will love it. I love it. I was already working in the TV commercials industry. That was like one of the first independent films that really opened up my eyes. I guess I was somewhere around 19 or 20.

Aditya: Cool. Now this movie that we’re talking about today, Blue Caprice, a 2013 Sundance movie about the DC sniper attacks. On the surface, there are not a lot of similarities to your particular experience. Right? It’s about an American — I don’t know if you would call them serial killers but definitely mass murderers. But actually, after comparing it to Bantú Mama, there are some really interesting parallels. So talk to me about the first time you saw Blue Caprice and what you took out of the movie.

Ivan: Well, Blue Caprice really was a discovery. Nobody really recommended it. As you can, I won’t say imagine because I’ve seen it, it wasn’t like a big deal. I didn’t see it making too much noise. I’m still wondering why because I still find that movie an amazing movie. It touches a subject that is so easy to teach and do a different thing. But they went so psychologically and beautifully shot. I just love the work of the director. When I saw it the first time I was like, “Wow, the use of natural light and the way they portray the Caribbean.” Growing up in the Caribbean, for me, you always see the vivid colors and everything. Caribbean nice colors and blah blah blah blah. You saw how they portrayed the Caribbean in Blue Caprice. I was like, “That’s the kind of Caribbean I want portrayed as well.”

It’s kind of dark and sad. It breaks that common way of seeing the Caribbean, which is, as I mentioned, vivid, colorful, etc. It brings a lot of emotions with it. Right? It will depend on how you want to portray it and for what reasons. For the reason they’re portraying it, it was amazing and he made it click for me. I knew I wanted to tell stories like social dramas and things maybe not portrayed commonly. When I saw the film, the way that the characters’ dialogues with the main character, when he had to speak, was more psychological. The way of living, his process of becoming that person and how they push him to get there is just an amazing film. I really, really appreciate it. I have watched it at least five times and I can watch it more.

Aditya: Well, what really struck me about Blue Caprice is almost the objective lack of stylization that they took, not only with the buildup, but even with the killings themselves. I thought that was really interesting because of the way that it parallels the mindset of the killers. Honestly, I had not even heard of these DC sniper attacks before watching this movie. I was like seven or eight when they happened. On visiting that, I thought it was really peculiar and interesting how there didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason as to who was killed, when, where and why. It was just a killing spree done just to do it.

Ivan: An accumulation of feelings and frustrations. At the end, he was like, we want to trick the system as well. I remember these lines that will stay with me like, people do things just because they get in that mindset. “When they think it’s pregnant women, we will go for Asians. When they think it’s Asians, we’ll go for the Black. We’re going to trick them. We’re just gonna do them. I’m training you to become that person and you’re gonna be a machine.” It was beautiful. One of the strongest things, you said you were seven or eight. I was already here. I remember a lot of media coverage for the DC sniper. But once again, you don’t really know what’s going on. You just know the media, how they’re portrayed and how they put it on the TV. This guy’s crazy, he killed so many people and now he is going to jail. But making a movie like this and making it more into this character, more into what happened there, or what could possibly happen because of course it is an adaptation of a story.

There’s a lot of research in it. The director and the writers have to make their own voice as well. Because you will never know 100% the truth of what happened. But by seeing that, you really find the interest of, “Wow, you don’t have to be so impactful.” You can tell the same crazy story and do it with a kind of subtlety. It was even kind of elegant. It was strong and it is a very hard episode of history. When we get to my film, there’s some things there that I took as a reference. For example, we shot Bantú Mama in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the Dominican Republic. But as you can see, we don’t have to emphasize on violence, gunshots and everything that happens there. I want to portray this like you can feel it on the sides, but you don’t have to see it on your nose. Yeah, kind of that vibe.

Aditya: Yeah, well, there’s an interesting almost — I wouldn’t quite say parallel — but just a really cool dichotomy of your film and Blue Caprice. Blue Caprice is really about a young Caribbean-Antiguan I believe teen who loses his humanity through gaining a father figure. Bantú Mama is about, not that the character Clarice plays doesn’t have humanity at the beginning, but she definitely changes and grows with a surrogate parent child relationship. It also fundamentally changes her life and she goes from criminal to something else. Whereas in the Blue Caprice, they go from something else to criminal and it’s kind of brain washed. Yours is actually a nice palate cleanser and like, “Oh, the world is actually kind of nice sometimes” version of Blue Caprice, which I imagine is how you draw inspiration from Blue Caprice with Bantú Mama.

Ivan: When we decided to talk about a film, I really mentioned Blue Caprice. I think I wanted to go to an opposite side of films that can lead you to a different type of film but still be a reference and something to look out for? It’s exactly how you mentioned. I don’t know if it’s totally the opposite. It still is still a reference for our film, because of the way the characters change, are younger and and then the pace of the film. There’s so many things in common … Because also when you look at reference, and that’s something that I always wanted to take care of or good caution with it. It’s like, “Hey, you’re the reference for something for a film.” It doesn’t really have to be a film with the same speech. It can come from painting, photography, or news. It can come from many sources and Blue Caprice even if it’s all separated it has a certain point where you can see them having a kind of a normal life. You can see them barbecuing or just listening to some reggae music on the porch, but then at the same time, reading a book and educating himself about being a sniper. It’s crazy. I also think the reference and the similarities are more abstract. I love to find similar tools in the abstractness of things. Maybe you cannot really compare one to one to the other, like putting it side by side, like “This one goes like this and this one goes like this.” I think it’s a deeper process.

Aditya: Yeah. Also the interesting thing that I noticed when I was watching Blue Caprice and comparing it to your film, is you don’t actually see the crime in either situation, which I thought was really interesting. It actually took me a minute to understand what was going on with Bantú Mama. I was like, “Did she actually commit a crime?” Then it became pretty clear that she did, but I think that that increases the humanization of these people. Blue Caprice, you’re not actually seeing someone bleed to death in their house, you’re only seeing him pull the trigger. Then you’re seeing the newspaper headline later. With Bantú Mama, it’s not really about what she does. It’s more about how she gets out of the situation that she’s found herself in, which I thought made the film more powerful than like any other version of that movie could have been.

Ivan: When you make films, I think you come up with an idea that you don’t really know if it’s going to work or how the people are going to accept it. You just have to make it and throw it out there to the world by seeing the reactions and by seeing your interpretation, and that you really understood what was going on without being on the nose and without being literal. It amazed me to see the power of film because there’s of course, a lot of communication within Bantú Mama that are not literally there. I think the experiment kind of worked.

Aditya: Yeah, well, the thing that’s interesting about it is that Bantú Mama is really a film about a woman on the run. Most films that we’ve seen about people on the run from a crime they’ve committed tend to look more like Thelma and Louise than they tend to look like Bantú Mama. The tension in the film comes less from I mean, it does come from, is she going to get caught? Is she going to get sent to prison? That’s simmering under the surface the whole time. She’s not spending the whole time running and confronting. It’s like, you have a few touch points to remind you that the stakes are high.

Ivan: Totally. We didn’t want to we didn’t want to use that formula. We wanted it to stick to reality. I’ll tell you the truth about reality in … I don’t know if it’s worldwide, but at least in this country, and I see some similarities in India. For example, the police — they don’t really do the job. They’re getting very low salaries … Am I really gonna go after a French lady? It’s a job you have to do. If I found her, I found her. If I don’t find her, whatever. We had some scenes that we caught from the film and naturally, you see the chief that was leading the search. When she finally escaped from the house, I didn’t want to spoil anything.

But when she finally escapes it, he gets a phone call. You remember, the policeman had an interaction with one of the characters like, “Have you seen her? Blah, blah, blah?” He gets a phone call. Actually, he’s in the discotheque with a woman. He doesn’t even pick up the phone. You know what I’m saying? That’s how it is. We didn’t want to come up with a formula where she has to be always on the thread. We wanted that to fail, because of course, you’re a character on the run. You’re somebody on the run, but we don’t want to make a film about that. We have this lady escaped. If we find her, we find her. If we don’t, whatever. Maybe she’s dead.

Aditya: Right, right. Something else I’m curious about outside of the depiction of crime. We’re talking about it in Blue Caprice first. This is obviously the real story of the DC sniper attacks, but it’s like someone who was plucked from Antigua and then taken to the US in search of a quote-unquote, “a better life” and then gets roped into this thing. They don’t do a ton of exploration of his Caribbean identity in Blue Caprice. I’m wondering how that aspect of the story affected you or changed the way that you saw it?

Ivan: It totally affects us because if you see in Bantú Mama, there’s a big decision at the end. You can see at the very end, we wanted to demystify that the U.S. or Europe is the ultimate land of opportunities and the dream and everything. That’s why Bantú Mama has a different ending. You might think that the character will end up with a twist back in Europe and giving this opportunity to these kids. But actually, the decision was different. It was going back to the roots, totally, let’s start from zero.

Because actually, she was already escaping from Europe from the day by day, nine to five, what am I doing with my life, etc. There’s not a specific reason why she did what she did. We study these cases, we have people that have done this, and when you ask them why you do this, they don’t even know. It’s not because they want the money. Because in the end, to bring illegal substances to Europe, it is not even a ton of money. It can be 6000–7000 euros and they’re like, I’ll take it. A vacation in the DR and come back. Everything is fixed as they’ve been told. They come with a promise that “No worries, everything’s gonna be fine. Blah blah blah.” It is escaping from Europe and escaping from the dream.

Aditya: A warped version of the Western immigrant dream because Emma, your main character in Bantú Mama, is of Afro-Caribbean origin, right?

Ivan: Afropean. That means she has one of her parents from Africa and one of the parents is from Europe, as she grew up in Europe.

Aditya: Yeah. She’s French. I’m curious — can you talk a little bit more about the decision to make her Afropean? Was it driven mostly by Clarice? Was it like Clarice’s heritage?

Ivan: When we started talking about writing this film and making the first steps, we also wanted to … Coming from the DR as you mentioned and being the first movie in South by Southwest coming from the DR, there’s some restrictions. It’s not easy to find the funds to make a film. Even when you write, you have to write in a way that you can make this film. You can let your creativity and your imagination go away and fly and then sit back on the desktop and write a story that you will never shoot. We wanted it to work. We knew we wanted to work with things that we have next to us. What did we have? We wanted to make this film — yes or yes. So what did we have? We had Clarice, she’s Afropeon. She knows a lot about growing up in Europe and having parents from Africa, what this brings to the character and what happened to her while she was growing up so she can write about that.

What do we have? An Afro-Caribbean man — me. I know the lack of information we have about our heritage. The House has manipulated history. We don’t talk here about our African descendants. That’s why you see this character coming to this house and in a way teaching these kids about their own heritage and their ancestors. Very slightly, because we didn’t want to make a film totally an academic lesson. But it’s there and has a lot of similarities. That actually is kind of my story. Me and Clarice are partners. She’s my wife. So when she came to the DR like 12 years ago, I also learned a lot from her. I also learned a lot from a lot of things we had here that I didn’t know was coming straight from Africa. She was starting to teach me. I was like, “Yeah, there’s a lack of information here. Maybe she can come and teach these kids.” Basically, we were working with available things and not also available things, but trying to make a film that was possible to shoot even with a low budget and a lack of finance.

Aditya: Yeah, that makes sense. I think that’s a common thread. You’ll see, as I’ve liked independent films, especially independent films that show in a place like South by Southwest, it’s kind of what do you have available? What’s reasonable? I think that that’s actually how some of the most intimate and interesting stories get told because you don’t have the optionality of adding special effects or going to some big location doing 100 extra shoots. Going back to Blue Caprice, what is impactful about that movie is that the shootings are very contained. You see some people through the lens of the sniper but really you’re focused on these two main characters, Lee and John, the whole time. I know we’ve talked a bit about Blue Caprice, but just a couple other things, if there’s anything else that you think really aged well about the movie or that you really would call out as inspiration for how you think about your film work.

Ivan: When I saw that film, I said to myself, “I know there’s some funds there. I know there’s money, but I can make that film. I need a good story to tell. I need two characters. I need a car. I need a house. I need bushes.” It was like, “Yeah, this is something.” Look, it’s an amazing film. You don’t have to make a low quality film just because you don’t have all the funds you get in the normal regular Hollywood industry. It was inspirational about that as well. Of course, you get the characters the deeper you go into Blue Caprice. The more you see, this could have been shot by a crew of 10 people. Why not? I know they had a bigger crew. I want to insert a reference into that as well. A reference on how they shot it. The ending shot is amazing. I was just commenting about it with Clarice. It felt almost like he was shooting that scene without telling the actors he was shooting. I love that. It’s not nothing new but it’s like so easy.

The car is parked in the parking lot. There are some federal officials around there. They’re just walking and it is a powerful shot. I bet because of the natural reality and the way they move, I’m totally sure he didn’t call for action. That’s amazing. That’s the type of cinema I was pursuing also with Bantú Mama. There’s a lot of things in Bantú Mama that I kept rolling, I even roll without telling the characters or I just change the dialogues right there on set. Just let’s see how it goes. There’s a lot of that in the film. So when I felt that in Blue Caprice, I think it was more saturated than us. When I saw that and I felt it, I was like, “That’s how I want to do it. I want to put in the film things that I know it’s going to work for the purpose.” I really would like to call action as less as possible, working with non-actors and using a different approach of directing as well. Very challenging.

Aditya: Yeah. That ending scene, I guess not quite the last scene of Blue Caprice, but the one where they get caught is so interesting. It’s almost like a blink-and-you-miss-it kind of thing. A lot of these movies with similar kinds of storytelling, there’s a big shootout or there’s like a big tense scene and the music rises. This is what we’re talking about Blue Caprice and Bantú Mama in the whole podcast so far is like, these things just kind of happen as they happen. You almost miss it. The tension comes less from, “Are they going to get caught? They’re not going to get caught? Is she going to get away? Is she not going to get away?” More so in the interactions that she has. I’m curious what your thoughts are on that particular thing, like, suddenly they’re in the car and then suddenly he’s in jail. You’re like, “Oh shit, what?”

Ivan: I I love it. I love it. Storytelling is not an archive. It is not something that you have to really detail point by point.You just have to go to one strong image and one strong message you’re putting out to the other one and you have to believe in the audience. You have to believe in the intelligence of the people. You don’t want to feed them on the mouth all the time. I love that type of filmmaking. It works for me. I guess it works. It will work for an audience as well because at the end of the day, films are for you. You cannot please everyone. You have to find your own audience. They found me with Blue Caprice, because I love these lapses and I love the way that things just happen.

For example, with Bantú Mama? Why did she do that? Whatever. We don’t need to know why she did it. I don’t want to make a film about why she did it. Okay, let me put 10 minutes of the film explaining that she had money problems. I don’t want to let you know, go with it. Go with the flow. Try to understand the character. She just does it. She just goes abroad trying to traffic with some illegal substance and things happen. I think every one of us has been in a situation that at the end you are like, “How did I get here?” That was one of the feelings I wanted to express when she got to the house. When she’s heading to the shower. That’s the point of no return. That’s the point of, “Wow, how deep am I? What am I doing here? How did I get here?” Finally, you don’t need to see everything. For Blue Caprice, it is beautiful how they just knock on the window. Wake him up and you see lights coming in.I mean, there’s some directors that will take him out of the car, handcuff them and you see all the drama. I don’t think that was the pace of that film. I don’t think that was the voice of the director. Actually, that’s what I found wonderful.

Aditya: The pacing — and again, this is I think also true of your film — it’s not a fast movie. It’s a short movie, right? An hour and a half or so. But it’s not like a GO GO GO GO GO GO GO movie. Like what you’re saying about Bantú Mama, you meet the characters where they are. You have to invest in the story of the characters and their relationship more than you need to invest in like the shootings.

Ivan: They call it “slow burn.” I’m not against someone who started a film, and at 10 minutes they say, “Where’s this going? I’m gonna change it.” I’m not against that. That means that that film didn’t speak to you. It’s okay, if it doesn’t speak to you, you don’t have to keep watching it. About the pace, yes, I didn’t want to feel that. You get all of these pre-made formulas with the urgency, the conflict, the twist and you have to be strong on that. That’s what you learn. That’s why they teach you and sometimes people just stick to that because it works. It’s gonna work.

But you know what? It probably is going to work or probably is going to look so much like the other ones. So we want to find an identity on the film. We want to find authenticity. The film is like that. Either you get it on the 10 or 15 minute mark exactly. You try to keep some stuff. You want to give them things that are like “Okay, let me keep them on their seat.” But I guess if you don’t find any relationship with you, you will just stand up and leave. I’m fine with that. I want to talk to the people that find meaning in that story and those characters, so it’s totally fine. I love it.

Aditya: That’s interesting, because I feel like with Blue Caprice. It was like the third movie, I think about the DC shooters. It had to be different because you couldn’t get another movie about the shooting or about the trial. You had to kind of take a different approach to it. Alexander Moore is the director. I think Bantú Mama is also interesting to me because when Americans think about the Dominican Republic, I think you think about two things, right? You think about spring break in Santo Domingo and like the fancy beaches and resorts there. Then you think about people who go on spring break here, which is like, “Don’t go outside because everything is very dangerous. It’s riddled with crime.”

I think it is an oversimplification. I think you hear a similar thing … You know, my parents are from India. You hear a similar thing when you see Slumdog. You’re like, “either it’s the rich people or it’s the slums and there’s no in between.” When I think about what I think is nice about Bantú Mama, it is that yes, it’s set in — I don’t know if you’d call it a slum — but definitely a poor neighborhood. It’s just like, there’s a lot of joy in it. I don’t think you get to see a lot of joy and humanity in those types of places very often, which I think is why if you stick with Bantú Mama for like 25 minutes, then you’ll start to see that thing and you’re like, “Okay, this is an interesting side of the Dominican, an interesting side of the Afro-Caribbean culture that I’ve not gotten to see before.” Even with African American movies and honestly, Black movies in the U.S., it’s so often about pain. So being able to see a subtle film about joy, I think it was a nice change of pace.

Ivan: Thank you for capturing that, because it was very important as well. It happens. It’s there day by day, I am a common visitor to these neighborhoods. That’s why the film is portrayed like that. It has to have its ups and downs. It has to show the beauty that there is within that most of the people when they go there, they don’t portray it. They just show difficulty because again, the formulas. You want to do something that will work. I didn’t want to do something that worked. I wanted to do something that tells her reality, her story and shows something that maybe hasn’t been shown the way I wanted to show it. I know these places. I have to tell you that this is one of the places that I feel more safe, that people really embrace you and that people really take care of you.

They’ll feed you and you will have a good time with them. They play music, they dance, you laugh a lot but it is also a hostile environment. You keep that from happening. Then suddenly, you can hear somebody running a little behind the house. You look at the window like in Bantú Mama. There’s a policeman running after a guy and then three older policemen with guns in their hands. You decide what you want to portray. You want to portray that persecution, and make that film? Or do you want to make the film inside the house where these kids are dancing at the same time that these things are happening? So we decided to show the other part. It is totally like that. You just have to put your eyes on it. There’s a lot of dancing, there’s a lot of music. There’s a lot of feasts and people eating, drinking and having a good time. They have problems. But I think that’s why they are like that as well, because they need to escape.

Aditya: Yeah. Do you feel like Bantú Mama is unique in the way that it portrays the Dominican Republic that you have seen? What is your experience like seeing the DR on screen before this?

Ivan:Yes, I have to say it is unique and original maybe because I had the opportunity. I don’t think I’m the only one with these eyes that can see this stuff. I think I’ve been the one that has got the opportunity to put it on a film and to have a team of filmmakers, actors and a story to tell. Something that transcends. We wanted to make a film that really takes us out of the borders of the Dominican Republic so getting to South by Southwest was really a great achievement for us. I really think it is unique because you get people … you don’t have much access to these places as well. Who made the films here in the Dominican Republic? Who has the possibility to make the films? People with money, influence and they know nothing about that. I’m visiting places like that with friends where we have different realities, interests and I’ve seen the reaction. “Wow, look, a machete! Show me that machete, let me see. Let me see how you move the machete!” You can see they’re hyped because of the dangerous part of it. They’re not hyped because there’s a blue, beautiful curtain blowing by the wind of the river. And then the lady stepping into the window and offering you coffee. They go to the other side. That’s what caught their attention. The attention to me is mostly caught by the beauty, simplicity and the way it’s built. That’s what I wanted to portray. It’s a matter of experience, perspective and a matter of how you see the world.

Aditya: Ivan, it’s been so wonderful talking to you , the last question that we ask every person on this podcast … How has Blue Caprice affected the way that you went about telling stories like Bantú Mama? How do you think it’ll affect the way you tell stories for the rest of your career?

Ivan: Blue Caprice made me — definitely with Bantú Mama, gave me the opportunity to not tell the things literally. It influences me a lot in the psychology of the characters, but also the way it looks and the pace of that film. It really resonates to me that I wanted to make a film that has some sort of similarities with it. In the future, I think it will still be a reference for me. I just love that way of filmmaking. And there’s things in that film that will stay with me in the next projects for sure.

Aditya: Awesome. Well, actually, one last question for you. Since Bantú Mama just premiered at South by Southwest digital, what’s next for you? What’s next for the film? When can everyone see it?

Ivan: With this COVID situation changing day by day, We have a sales agent and festival agent in Europe. We’re looking to have a good European premiere. This is on the table right now. Some festivals are changing the date. Some festivals have very little space for film because they have some from 2020 and they’re stuck. So we’re looking for that. Bantú Mama needs to make a festival route. We need a European premiere this year, hopefully a good one and then hopefully get sales and distribution around the world.

Aditya: And what about your next film? Are you thinking about your next film already?

Ivan: Already working on it. This afternoon, I have started researching. I don’t want to give too much information, but we’re working with social dramas. We have a meeting today with a very interesting character that is bringing light to our next field that we’re starting this life of these people. We’re working on that. It is going to be another Caribbean film. It’s going to be on social dramas, and he’s going to have pretty much the same style as my films. I don’t want to change and Blue Caprice is still going to be a reference.

Aditya: Awesome. Ivan, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.

Ivan: Thank you for having me. I am looking forward to seeing the reaction on the show.

Aditya: You have been listening to Technicolor Theater, a podcast about representation on film that is proudly part of MediaversityReviews.com. Today’s episode was part of our coverage of SXSW 2021. For more on this year’s festival, you can check out the reviews on our website. Today’s guest was Ivan Herrera. His film, Bantú Mama, was the first American film premiere at South by Southwest. You can find Ivan on Instagram at @ivanherrera. My name is Aditya Joshi, as always @aditya.mov on Instagram. Our consulting producer is Amanda Llewellyn. Thank you so much for listening and we’ll catch you next time.

Mediaversity Reviews is a project that grades TV & films on gender, race, LGBTQ, disability, and more. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to join the conversation!