Pictured Director Yasmina Cádiz (right) and a scene from her film Mama Said.
New York-based lesbian Latina filmmaker Yasmina Cádiz is one of those forces of human nature that makes one stand back with awe. Her passion for every subject we discussed (from her roots in my new neighborhood, Humboldt Park, to her interest in astrology) was only trumped by what must be seemingly inexhaustible energy. In the last year, for example, she's not only founded (with producing partner Amanda Real) X Chromosome Films, a production company looking to create opportunities for women in film, but she's also directed and completed her first short 35mm film, the poignant Mama Said. The 8-minute short, in which a mother leaves her young daughter in an abandoned building with instructions to wait for her, never to return, has won critical praise and has recently been given a coveted slot at the Chicago Film Festival while Cádiz has been asked to join a panel on the challenges of shooting in Chicago. I spoke with the beautiful, raven-haired dynamo as she was frantically trying to make a deadline to submit Mama Said for Academy Award consideration.
WCT: How did you get into filmmaking?
YC: It's something that I've always wanted to do; I've always wanted to be a director. I did photography for a while and in many ways I think I was telling stories through my photographs and my paintings. I always kept a little thing on my refrigerator reminding me about this film school in New York that sounded pretty cool.
WCT: But you had a business here for quite a while that kept you from that, right?
YC: Yes. A home furnishings boutique called Punctilio. But after 9/11 I felt so devastated that all those people and all those thousands of dreams disappeared instantly. It really made me stand still and reassess and think about what I'd always dreamed of doing and hadn't. And that was filmmaking and quickly, everything fell into place and I moved to New York. It was meant to be.
WCT: What happened next on your journey of rediscovery?
YC: During film school I took some intensive specialized classes including learning how to take apart a 35mm camera which is so key for me because those things are big and scary and when you learn how things work then you can create and the fear is gone. Those tools are really important for me. Then I took a cinematography course with Matt Siegel and at the end we were asked to show a reel and all I had was this little 3-minute black-and-white film and I got really great feedback from him and he said, 'If you're ever working on anything let me know' and I was like, 'Note to self: call him when you get ready to make your movie … .'
WCT: And the next piece is that you found this beautiful story. It was written by a friend of yours?
YC: Yes, Danielia Falcon, she's also a co-founder of X Chromosome Films. DeeDee is an amazing writer. We'd been entertaining the idea of working on a feature together when I took off for film school. During one of my visits to Chicago she read me the short story the film's based on. I knew that I had to make it as a short, because it needs to stand alone, it's too powerful to be part of a larger story.
WCT: So then you got your company together and when did you shoot the film, Yasmina?
YC: We shot it in March of this year.
WCT: Wow, that recently?
YC: This is the part that I love because only people who understand film understand that. We just came from a film festival where people were saying, 'This was five years in the making' and I'm thinking, 'I shot this six months ago.' I said to myself, 'I'm giving up my business, I only have X, Y, Z amount of money and I can only live without working for so long and I know for me to continue on this journey without losing momentum I have to cut it, edit it and start submitting it to the Academy-sanctioned film festivals by May 31.' I was doing everything to finish and reach that deadline.
WCT: That's less than two months from shooting to submitting it to the first festival.
YC: Yeah, I know (laughs) and we did it. It's a short but still you have to edit and score. I was lucky to find Sharon Zurek from Black Cat Productions here. I didn't know her but I begged her to look at my rough cut and after seeing the footage she offered one of her employees at no cost to get my project done.
WCT: This is a common thread through the making of this movie and X Chromosome Films. What is it about you that's making everyone offer their time gratis?
YC: I can't really explain, what I think it is is this: I'm extremely passionate about this project and my company and when I talk about it I get this thing where my hair stands on end when I know that I have a really good thing going. I think my passion comes across.
WCT: So what is it that affected you so directly about the story? Were you abandoned at some point?
YC: I've never had anything horrible happen like that to me. But I am very drawn to children and I'm very protective of them so any story that has to do with a child and the elderly and the blind—I can identify with that feeling of being left to your own devices and you have to find a way to keep going with no support and still look at life in a positive way.
WCT: Does being a lesbian and coming out have something to do with that?
YC: I would say yes but I didn't know that until about a week ago when I was talking about this and I had an epiphany about it. I was on my own from the age of 18 and I don't think an 18-year-old is ready for the real world. I certainly wasn't. But I must add that having experienced all that I've experienced because of that I am much wiser for it.
WCT: What's next for you?
YC: We're in pre-production on 12 Signs. I cannot stop now. Because of Mama Said we have people interested in it. We're looking at locations in Chicago because I want to shoot it here but now we have to get the rest of the money—as usual.
WCT: These are more short stories?
YC: They started out as DeeDee's individual stories but we're telling one whole story. It's based on the 12 signs of the Zodiac. It's a very layered story.
WCT: Good luck. You're off to a great start.
YC: Thank you, I've got to go get that package to Fed-X!
See www.xchromosomefilms.com
