From Marinthia: A Love Letter To Tijuana, Vampires and Dance
 

Ella se queda (She Stays) is a story about a young woman who has to make an important decision for her future at a time in her life full of confusion, and heartbreak. The cinematic path of this story is a reflection that questions our normality and desires through a lens of fantasy, horror, and dance. This story is an exercise on perception and gaze– what do we assume what it is that the character wants? How do people perceive us and why? How do we want to be perceived? 
 

I was raised in Tijuana until I was sixteen. I finished high school in San Diego and when I graduated was very unhappy because I didn’t want to attend any of the colleges I was accepted to since they lacked a film program. This story comes from a time I was in emotional and educational crossroads during my first years of university. I was doing everything in my power to transfer to UCLA for film school, but kept thinking what would happen if I got in– what would happen to my friendships back home, what would I be losing being unable to go back and forth so often, why was I even  visiting so much in the first place if I knew where my heart was?
 

The image that was the genesis of this story was a girl being bored at a bar. I think it is a very interesting juxtaposition to have someone that is in a space designed to have fun but they cannot be in that headspace because they want to be somewhere else. With Laura, and when I was at this moment in my life which I just described, it is the fear of leaving the familiar because it is all you know. You don’t know how unsatisfying life is until you’ve had enough. When I got into UCLA it was very tough on me emotionally, but a few months later I finally started making friends and a life for myself in Los Angeles. When I was comfortable enough to not go back to Tijuana as often and finally call Los Angeles my home, I sat down and wrote Ella se queda. I finally started to believe that home is where your dreams are and stopped being afraid of leaving what I used to know behind me.  
 

This goes without saying that I love Tijuana. Like any downtown, La Revolución (the main avenue in downtown), is the heart of the city and the bar crawl that Laura and her friends go through is the classic route in La Sexta (6th street). This short film is a tribute to Tijuana and this part of town– it’s grimy but also magical. I want to capture this atmosphere on screen, to really feel the space of these places. Most of all movies and TV shows are based in Mexico City, and it is a shame that other states of the country, like Baja California, are not shown in film.
 

The vampire myth is rarely explored from a female point of view. When treated, a female vampire is usually a seducer who is highly objectified and without much of an arc of transformation. In this project, the vampires (all women), although they are supernatural creatures, are presented as the heroines, and the male figures, humans, are actually the real monsters. Being native to Mexico, and as this story takes place in Tijuana, I want to highlight the everyday gross remarks men tend to tell women. Although they’re not life threatening, microaggressions are exhausting– tiny actions or words that can sour your night out, and these push Laura to be initiated into an all-female vampire coven. Going further than the microaggressions themselves, this story analyzes the male psyche. José might not catcall or give Laura unsolicited requests, but he cheats on her and has the confidence to win her back with no repercussions. Of course people of all gender expressions and backgrounds can commit romantic infidelities, but we cannot ignore that these emotional abandonments are rooted in a patriarchal system, which is heightened with Mexican machista culture. 
 

I have been in dance classes my whole life but I had a strong reconnection with the medium throughout lockdown. During it, I started accepting incorporating choreography as a tool to my creativity. I have finally started exercising this ability that I knew I always had, and have choreographed music videos and live performances for one of my best friends, Myuné (Amor Amezcua), a musician from Tijuana. I love dance as a vehicle for horror, and I wish we could see more of it on screen. When I first saw Climax by Gaspar Noé, I realized that dance could be something euphoric and nasty– something so grounding and primitive but also dream-like since it is such a physical experience that it can represent any emotional condition. Choreographing and collaborating with real dancers for this project, I will be able to show on screen the raw sinistry, catharsis, and madness that goes with the story and the vampiric myth. 

My perspective as a storyteller is multifaceted and multidisciplinary. Living between two cultures, and my knowledge in various artistic backgrounds have prepared me to execute a kinetic, visually, and sonically strong narrative about the emotional storm and breakthrough one goes through in accepting your destiny. With Ella se queda, I will use all of my sensibilities as an artist to bring the authentic, surreal, and fantastical characters which I am longing desperately to see on screen. If I could hope what a viewer gains from watching my film, it would be that they’d be touched, horrified, and surprised all at the same time– because as a storyteller, visualizing these feelings are what bring me the most joy, catharsis, and aesthetic satisfaction.