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When Proximity is Dangerous: An Interview With the Cartas a Distancia Team

Alonso Díaz de la Vega

Cartas a distancia, dirigido por Juan Carlos Rulfo, es un documental que retrata la forma en que la pandemia de Covid-19 transformó las dinámicas de comunicación, traslado, trabajo e interacción. A través de las cartas que envían los familiares a los enfermos, se construye una historia acerca del aislamiento, el miedo, el temor y el amor.

Para el Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia (FICM), el crítico de cine Alonso Díaz de la Vega pudo conversar con el director Juan Carlos Rulfo, la guinista Melisa del Pozo, el productor Eduardo Díaz y la editora Valentina Leduc.

Alonso Díaz de la Vega: I would like to start by asking you about the theme, in your words, what is the importance of making a cinematographic record of the pandemic?

Juan Carlos: I think that making a record of this particular moment is important. It is a crisis beyond the economy that summons all of humanity, it is a global health crisis, it is a crisis of approaches and in the end, that's one of the most sensitive, subtle things that can exist. You can't get close to anyone, you can't hug your loved ones; it is a breathing crisis, you cannot breathe, it is intangible. It's one thing when a war drops a bomb on you, that suddenly all the squads in the world start dropping bombs in cities is something physical, but this is something that you don't see, you do not feel, you can't touch it; it's terrible, it's brutal. In addition, the media are also intangible, in the sense of the airwaves, the messages you receive.

Faced with an event as particular as this, you say: "Here is something and we have to see what it is. We have to play with that and see where it leads." And this is how it happens, how suddenly such a fundamental element as the written word on paper; a phrase that communicates affection, love, estrangement, directed to someone you can't see, and you can't know how they really feel because it is truly basic but so forgotten, so alien against what apparently matters, like the statistics, the news, the big newspapers telling you which "traffic light" we are at, it's terrible. Faced with this, it turns out that we have fundamental elements as human beings, such as a group of nurses and families trying to find out how their infected relative is doing within these clinics. But if we go to a mountain range, to a place in the province where there are no such mechanisms, you see other things. I don't know if better or worse. The idea was to see where it was taking us and that's where we were when, suddenly, we began to get letters from these characters and Melissa began to contact and talk with Jorge the nurse, who identified himself as a character.

Then there was this social event, this crisis, and on the other hand, everything that has to do with the construction of a cinematographic discourse. With looking for a character who has charisma, a particular personality, access and a taste for doing things, like photography, and that is loved by everyone. And also all these characters who are on the street who want to give a message, and who are waiting for news from their people. A perfect circle was created. The fundamental thing here was not to bring a tabloid, sensationalist film where you would suddenly rely on drama and people's sadness just for the sake of it. In a superficial way, I mean. Yes, we wanted to go deeper and say that these people are like any other person who needs this closeness and, beyond that, it is about being able to bring people closer together in a crisis where we are all afraid.

ADV: I would like to ask you about the process of making the film, I imagine it must have been complicated, especially approaching these people and asking them to share something so intimate.

Eduardo Díaz: At first, the hospital's permits were a problem. We didn't really get permission until later, but we made the decision to do the project. We had to consider how we were going to do the technical part because obviously, we could not go to the Covid area due to an issue of permits, so we relied on the medical personnel to be our eyes and, through a very small camera, they recorded inside for us, and every night we reviewed the material and gave them directions on what to do. We had a team outside that Melissa led with César Parra, the photographer, and they were also detecting characters, family, and all the exchange of letters from the inside out. So yes, it was a production challenge, and in many ways, but very cool and we are very proud of the project and of all those who joined. It was very cool to see it evolve.

Melissa del Pozo: The challenge was to be in the Covid area through these nurses. We also had other types of challenges, like earning trust and empathy from these families, encouraging them to tell us their story, to have the relationships and more about this part of the people who don't know that it's a documentary. They think that having a camera means they are going to see you on TV, on the news, and the truth is that it's not like that. We had to explain that it was a process that we were going to build hand in hand with them, with the messages that they exchanged. At first, it was a bit violent, because you invade their privacy, ask them to open the door of their house, of their family, of their past, of many things that I think are a different challenge and go beyond just putting a camera in front of them. It is a challenge of empathy and of generating certain bonds that must also be maintained throughout this process because they continue to be part of the documentary, and what is going to happen with it. So in the end they are human relationships that of course are out of the cinematographic context because they are not part of this world, nor do they understand what this documentary will be. That is another type of challenge, asking for their help so that they let you into their lives, but it has been a very interesting experience, very fruitful in different senses for everybody; not only as professionals but also as people. It was a kind of hug for us, the pandemic was different for us because we saw it in a more stark way, but it also allowed us to get to know each other, embrace each other and understand how to generate new reflections towards the future.

ADV: How was the editing process for the film? I imagine it must have been exhausting, not only in terms of the material but in terms of seeing so much suffering.

Valentina Leduc: Yes, it was super moving and very strong to work with materials that are so intimate, suddenly there is like this limit of how far you go, that is ethical, that is careful, respectful with the processes that the families were going through, which were quite hard. So, I think it was always like this feeling of being clear about how the crisis humanity was involved in could reach.

Here you are working with real lives that are opening their heart and soul and everything they are living for the film, that line is very delicate. But I think we were all clear on that and it happened naturally. Something that was a very nice experience for me as an editor was working with materials that came from families, from Jorge the nurse, that had a very different and real wealth.

ADV: I would like to expand the question a bit towards the subject of montage and music. How did they work?

Valentina Leduc: We had already worked with Leo (Heiblum) on other occasions and something that is always very cool is that there is already a working dialogue for all the years that we have worked together, so we already know each other. Juan knows him very well. In this case, we worked a bit like in our first experience, which was En el hoyo, doing the montage and the music more or less simultaneously. We were sharing that process a bit, which is something that doesn't always happen while editing a film. This was an exercise of editing with some models that Leo did, with all the sounds of the hospital. I think that is very fortunate for any film, to be able to work on the montage with the music, not like a separate thing that comes later. Often, in other projects where we haven't done it like this. I'll see the film, listen to the music, and think I would have liked to extend that moment more. In this case, we were able to work together and that was very nice.

Juan Carlos: One of the most beautiful things about the film was also that it is a film made from a distance, many elements were combined in a more virtual way: the family sent their messages; Jorge received them and sent them to the patients; Leo received sounds, recorded them and sent them to me; Melissa was at the hospital meeting people. Everything was done in a more distant way. The montage was done remotely. The challenge was in not making it melodramatic, or a journalistic report. For you to go inside but for it all to en with this couple that celebrates their 28th anniversary in the hospital.