Morelia International Film Festival

FICM 2009

WINNERS X-RAYS - 7º FICM

Veronique Decroux

Age: 31

Birthplace: Mexico City

Film: Señora Pájaro

Award: Best Fiction Short Film

By: Clara Sánchez

Translated by: Carlos Garza

About Señora Pájaro:

The title: A little girl who suffers a terminal illness observes a woman who's about to commit suicide and sees her with wings, as if she were a Bird Woman.

Motivation to tell this story: To talk about life and death. Death is something we deal with every day but in order to talk about it we have to take life as the starting point.

Experience in Morelia: For me it was great to be at the festival, it was the first time I had come to present my work. I really enjoyed the interaction with the other filmmakers and the great selection of films (which on the other hand wasn't so great since every day you had to sacrifice a great film because there was so much to see that there weren't enough hours in the day to see everything).

Audience reaction in Morelia: I didn't get asked much, which is why I'm so surprised to have won.

What's next for the film: I want to submit it to other festivals, I want to see people's reaction.

In short:

What does this prize mean to you?

It was really surprising, I'm very happy. It means my work isn't so bad. I'm rather self-critical, and this film showed that I'm a better director than I am a photographer. I'd like to try directing another story.

What does it mean to you that your film may be eligible to represent Mexico at the Oscars?

I can't even imagine that, I'd never thought about that in my life. I'm really interested in Cannes but if they give me an Oscar I'm certainly not complaining.

How did you transmit to Fernanda the concept of life and death that you wanted to deal with in the film?

I explained the screenplay to her little by little, but Fernanda had her own version of the story: "I'm on the balcony with my little bird and I'm watching a woman who I see with a pair of wings." In terms of direction we worked with a woman who did a lot of work with the body, exercises such as pretending to be a dove, feeling heavy like a rock, etc.

What's next after Morelia?

I'm really confused, I wanted to be a photographer and now it turns out I'm a director. The truth is I don't know what I'll do next.

To find out more go to Señora Pájaro.

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