The Winners at the 15th FICM: Interview with Sofía Carrillo

Gabriela Martínez @GabbMartivel

It was during the third Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), in 2005, when Sofía Carrillo participated for the first time in the festival with her short film Vertigo, winner of the Support to Productions of the State Fund for Culture and the Arts of Jalisco. Since then, she has become a frequent character in the memory of FICM, as it is not the first time that she's won the Ojo for Mexican Animated Short: in 2011 and 2013, she repeated this feat with her short films Black Doll and The Sad House.

In the fifteenth edition of the festival, Sofía Carrillo took the Ojo home again thanks to her short film Cerulia, which tells the story of a girl who sets off on a trip to say goodbye to her childhood home, now for sale, but the memories and the presence of her grandparents will not let her leave.

Sofía Carrillo, director of Cerulia, winner of the Ojo for Mexican Animated Short, 15° FICM.

To celebrate this achievement, Sofía Carrillo shares her experience with Cerulia and the Morelia International Film Festival.

How did you develop the project?

Cerulia is based on a story about two grandparents that I wrote when I was 17 or 18 years old. They were in the back garden of their house and their hair fell like autumnal leaves. The idea of this story arose when I was 15 or 16 years old when my grandfather died. I started writing it and it came out almost spontaneously.

I like to work a lot with layers. On the one hand, you can see the subject of the other self, but it also captures this feeling of attachment and the idea of moving forward with your life. My grandparents' house was sold many years ago, so I decided to incorporate that as well.

Cerulia was an opportunity to return to what I had done before. The style of animation of The Tailor's Heart was different, a little less dark, but with this short, I wanted to take up what I had been doing before.

How has FICM influenced your career?

The second or third edition was the first time I went because I was the art director of other projects that participated, but in 2005, I was the director for the first time. Since then I have seen how it has grown and how it has given me a great push because it is a very prestigious festival.

The festival has a lot to do with the development of The Sad House and Cerulia because thanks to the awards and support I was able to develop those two projects. For example, when I won in 2013 with The Sad House, they supported me with cans that have helped me shoot my next project. Let's say I feel like one of the festival's daughter.

I like that it gives you the opportunity to see the work of other filmmakers and that is why it has such an important role in Mexican cinema.

It is very nice to always see familiar faces. It's like getting together with friends that we end up running into in Morelia every year. This edition, in particular, was very special for me because of the master classes by Guillermo del Toro at the Teatro Ocampo. The truth is that I'm still dazzled with this edition.

What's the movie you've liked most at FICM?

The Prize, by Paula Markovitch.

What personality would you like to meet in any edition of the festival?

Terry Gilliam, because I think he's a polar bear in danger of extinction for his work. Like a modern Quixote. Wes Anderson too and Michel Gondry.