HILDA MERCADO: A PIECE OF EARTH

Hilda Mercado was born and raised in Mexico City. While studying communications in Mexico, she fell in love with filmmaking. Mercado says she is fascinated by the fact that filmmaking requires a combination of technical knowledge, management skills and artistic ability. "Each of those abilities supports the others and enables the filmmaker to create most artful images," says Mercado. "All of this knowledge is supported on how we see the world, our tastes and our backgrounds." She attended the Rockport Film and Television Workshop, in Maine, and earned a degree in cinematography from the American Film Institute. Mercado notes that having A Piece of Earth chosen for the Camerimage Festival was a special honor for her.

A Piece of Earth begins in the town of Candela, Mexico, not far from the United States border. Great elder Don Aurelio is preparing to die, and his one last wish is to be buried in California where he was born and raised. Not trusting his family to respect his wishes, he decides to have his great-grandchildren Ramiro and Agustin take him to Los Angeles. The journey begins with a coffin set atop of an old Dodge Dart. Mercado, writer/director Jorge Gaggero, and production designer Alberto Gonzalez-Reyna spent a lot of time developing the look, including the emotional arc of each character, the colors of walls, the wardrobe, camera movement and lighting. They decided to keep the look very realistic. Some scenes are hardly lit. The script sets the tone, the look and direction of the film. Mercado's goal was not to distract the audience with unjustified camera movement or lighting, while grabbing the audience's attention and inviting them to join the journey with the characters.