Independents Day

Documentaries can be strange and beautiful things -- living narrative truths, visual histories -- and an extraordinarily courageous way to delve into the origins from which you come. Natalia Almada has done just that with her moving film El General, which took home the Director's Award at Sundance in January. "The real seed of El General was the six hours of audio recordings that my grandmother made about her father in 1978," explains Almada. "Her father, Plutarco Elias Calles, was a revolutionary general who rose to the presidency of Mexico in 1924 and became one of Mexico's most controversial figures." Almada, who was born in Mexico City and raised in both Mexico and the U.S., says her grandmother had intended to write a biography of Calles but never did, and the recordings then found their way to Almada. "I felt both the inspiration and responsibility to bring to life these memoirs that I inherited."

The film about Calles is a symbiotic pairing of memory and judgment -- the testimony of Almada's grandmother and the legacy that history has subjectively assigned Calles -- while it also offers an intensely personal re-discovery of Mexico 100 years after the Revolution. It's the kind of journey that is hard to imagine illuminated in any other way. "I love that documentary filmmaking gives me a way to look at the world," Almada says. "I can take a slice of life and first look at it through my lens, frame it, and then reshape it, reconsider it, and re-contextualize it in the editing room to create a film which reflects the way I see the world." Almada, gentle and focused, is grateful for the opportunity to make films and imparts a gracious delight when she talks about her work. "I love the people I film, the people I work with and the audiences I can share the experience with through film."

Styling by Zandile Blay

Hair by Frederic Boudet at Bryan Bantry Inc.

Sweater by Velvet and shirt by Longchamp.

< BACK TO "INDEPENDENTS DAY"