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Está Linda la Mar

After several conversations, Natalia and Ilián decide to start filming. They play, experiment, and find a new way to look at the present. This documentary aims to be a love letter from a daughter to a mother, a way to express the grief of losing sight.

  • Natalia Martínez Mejía
    Director
  • Natalia Martínez Mejía
    Writer
  • Natalia Martínez Mejía
    Producer
  • Natalia Martínez Mejía
    Key Cast
  • Ilián Mejía Amezcua
    Key Cast
  • Natalia Martínez Mejía
    Cinematography
  • Ilían Mejía Amezcua
    Cinematography
  • Natalia Martínez Mejía
    Editing
  • Rubí J. Pérez
    Sound Design
  • Jesús Estrada
    Additional Voices
  • Fernando Leach
    Color Grading
  • Yair Acevedo
    Graphic Design & Credits
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Está Linda la Mar
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    15 minutes 15 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 15, 2024
  • Country of Origin:
    Mexico
  • Country of Filming:
    Mexico
  • Language:
    Spanish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Distribution Information
  • Ad Maiora
    Distributor
    Country: Mexico
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Natalia Martínez Mejía

She studied audiovisual arts but she moves between disciplines. She specializes in video art, video dance and video performance and is now finishing his second short film. Her visual and performance work has been part of Habitar la Imagen (Berlin, DE), Museo Cabañas, Estudio Teorema, TODOMUNDO (Guadalajara, MX), Museo Nacional de Arte Contemporáneo and Casa Palacio (Santiago, CL). She is FOUNDRESS OF Arrogante Albino, a multidisciplinary artist laboratory that has performed in various venues in Europe and America and has just released her first music EP, She is mainly in charge of the audiovisual direction and editing of the projects. She is a performer in Lukas Avendaño's Lemniskata that had been shown in Conjunto Santander (Gdl), Sala Miguel Covarrubias (CDMX), Kampnagel (DE) and Holland Festival (NL) and Desingel (BE). She has given different workshops on body acceptance and intuitive movement in different parts of Mexico and Germany.

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Estudió artes audiovisuales, pero trabaja en diversas disciplinas. Se especializa en videoarte, videodanza y videoperformance, y está terminando su segundo cortometraje. Su obra visual y performativa ha sido parte de Habitar la Imagen (Berlín), Museo Cabañas, Estudio Teorema, TODOMUNDO (Guadalajara), Museo Nacional de Arte Contemporáneo y Casa Palacio (Santiago). Co-fundadora de Arrogante Albino, un laboratorio multidisciplinar activo en Europa y América, dirige y edita proyectos. Es intérprete en Lemniskata de Lukas Avendaño, exhibido en Conjunto Santander, Sala Miguel Covarrubias, Kampnagel, Holland Festival y Desingel. Ha colaborado con Compañía Opcional, Perfolink y Teatro Ojo. Ha impartido talleres sobre aceptación corporal y movimiento intuitivo en México y Alemania.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

This project is my first documentary short film, but at the same time, I feel like I’ve been making it for 34 years. The most important part of the process was always the relationship with my mom. I started by recording a conversation with her, where she told me what was happening (her diagnosis) and how she felt, with the idea of having a witness to accompany us in our pain, someone who could keep this memory and prevent it from being lost.

My mom is very brave.
Film/witness/pretext was the playground that allowed us to say something together, something we had never done before.
Without thinking about the result, but with the power of the situation, taking control of how our story is told.

My practice is guided by intuition, autoethnography, and body awareness.
The images I pursue aim to shift the narrative around joy and the experience of the body in the world. Vulnerability as raw material, care and tenderness as a shield, and humor as a way to access the other – empathy is essential.
I studied audiovisual arts, but I move between disciplines because they all feel limiting, which is why I hate shopping for clothes. My mediums are video, performance, photography, and sculpture, using my own body and other materials.
I am part of the laboratory Arrogante Albino.

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Este proyecto es mi primer cortometraje documental pero al mismo tiempo siento que llevo 34 años haciéndolo, lo más importante del proceso siempre fue la relación con mi mamá. Comencé grabando una platica con ella, en la que me contó lo que estaba pasando (su diagnóstico) y cómo se sentía, con la idea de tener un testigo que nos acompañara en el dolor, alguien que pueda guardar esta memoria y no se pierda.

Mi mamá es muy valiente.
El cine/testigo/pretexto fue el espacio de juego que nos permitió decir algo juntas, nunca lo habíamos hecho.
Sin pensar en qué iba a resultar, pero teniendo el poder de la situación, tomando las riendas de cómo se cuenta nuestra historia.

Mi práctica se guía por la intuición, la autoetnografía y la conciencia corporal.
Las imágenes que persigo pretenden un cambio de narrativa sobre el goce y la experiencia del cuerpo en el mundo. La vulnerabilidad como materia prima, el cuidado y la ternura como escudo y el sentido del humor como medio para acceder al otro, la empatía es necesaria.