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Hope, Soledad and a Pilgrimage That "Cannot Be Captured in Words"

Gustavo R. Gallardo

Hope, Soledad (2021), by the filmmaker and screenwriter Yolanda Cruz, was presented at the 19th edition of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) in the Mexican Feature Film Section.

Hope is a college student trying to find herself in her mother's land after being displaced from her home in the United States. Soledad, on her part, struggles to free herself from the ghost of her deceased lover and end her relationship with a husband who lives in the United States. During a pilgrimage to Juquila, Oaxaca, Hope and Soledad meet by chance. In their travels, both live with the pilgrims while alleviating their personal suffering.

"I was thinking of making a documentary, but I never made myself do it because I didn't have the right way to respect the story and the characters as they deserved because I'm conflicted about this," the filmmaker revealed.

She stressed that seeing the pilgrims is seeing their faith, a faith that "is universal", and spoke about loneliness, which "is not so big because we are part of a community."

"Sometimes loneliness becomes a little easier, or easier to accept, when one is in a group," she emphasized.

Luis F. Guizar said that it was very interesting and fun planning Hope, Soledad, and concluded by saying that "this movie existing is miracle."

Actress Karen Daneida, who plays Soledad, said that after she began to see things the way her character does, little by little she understood "who this woman was and what triggers her loneliness. I always thought that she carried penance in her name, and it became about discovering how she lived that solitude in herself and in that pilgrimage."