Private Project

Oklahoma Mon Amour

The film is bilingual (English/Spanish) Please activate subtitles (cc) if needed.
In the mid-nineties, while living in Mexico, the U.S. journalist, Leam Gaertner, and a British activist by the name of Fiona had two sons: Nico and Sebastián. Political threats prompted their relocation to Oklahoma, where they had a house in the small town of Ava. The couple's incessant activism resulted in a tragedy that ruptured the family, triggering the film's present-day events.
In late 2016, Nico, now 24, is once again living in Mexico. Through a voice in off we become aware of his obsessions and of the restlessness that consumes him. And his anxiety is justified because Sebastián –who was left in Oklahoma with the now bitter and cynical Leam– is traveling to Mexico by road, determined to put the pieces together once and for all.
Oklahoma Mon Amour portrays a ruptured family and the quest for its reunion, the journey of two brothers, the challenges faced by multicultural youth needing to find their true identity and to unveil buried secrets, all of this tinted by the puzzling closeness between Mexico and the U.S. Filmed in black and white and with a hybrid structure that interweaves fiction, essay, and real events, evoking earlier poetic and reflective art-house films, the film also references current world tensions, and presents an unusual approach to the Mexico/U.S dynamics, also showing a cosmopolitan Mexico City seldom seen in cinema.

  • Carolina Rueda
    Director
  • Arthur Dixon
    Key Cast
    "Nico Gaertner"
  • Richard Williams
    Key Cast
    "Sebastián Gaertner"
  • David Slemmons
    Key Cast
    "Leam Gaertner"
  • Tatiana Rioseco
    Key Cast
    "Mónica"
  • Sydne Rain Gray
    Key Cast
    "Syd"
  • Kody Burns
    Key Cast
    "Fiona Gaertner"
  • Richar Ray Whitman
    Key Cast
    "Lloyd"
  • Katie Williams
    Key Cast
    "Paige"
  • Katie Williams - Song Flavor Blonde
    Music
  • Sebastian Efler
    Music
  • Geoffrey Burch
    Music
  • Carolina Rueda
    Cinematography
    Visitas
  • Amber Handy
    Cinematography
  • Marcelo Rioseco
    Writer
  • Carolina Rueda
    Writer
  • Carolina Rueda
    Producer
  • David Slemmons
    Producer
  • OMAFilms
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Feature, Other
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 10 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 30, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    70,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    Mexico, United Kingdom, United States
  • Language:
    English, Spanish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • WorldFest Houston. WINNER

    SPECIAL JURY REMI AWARD 2021 Experimental films
  • Toronto International Women Film Festival. BEST FEMALE CINEMATOGRAPHER

    Best Female Cinematographer
  • New Wave Film Festival. WINNER

    Winner Special Selection
  • Vancouver Independent Film Festival. FINALIST

    Finalist. Best Female Director of Feature Film (Not decided yet).
  • WRPN.TV WINNER

    Best Art-House Film Spring 2021
  • Madrid International Film Festival (Official Selection and nominations)

    August 23, 2021
  • Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin (Official Selection)

    October 6, 2021
Distribution Information
  • Glen Reynolds, Circus Road Films
    Sales Agent
    Country: United States
    Rights: Internet
Director Biography - Carolina Rueda

Carolina has worked professionally in the fields of film and video production and film studies. She co-founded directed and edited weekly segments for LatinEyes, a television program that focused on Latin American culture in such a way as to break down the stereotyped images of Hispanic people living in the United States. LatinEyes received an Emmy Award for Best Cultural TV Show in 2006 (San Francisco, CA). In 2005, she co-produced the Colombian feature film Visitas, which premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival and was exhibited at several other venues, including the Internationales filmfestival Freiburg (Switzerland), the Chicago Latino Film Festival, the Festival de Cine de Granada (Spain), Cine Las Americas (Austin, Tx), and the Festival de Cine de Cartagena (Colombia), among others.

Carolina has a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, has taught film editing and film studies courses and is the author of the book Ciudad y Fantasmagoría: Dimensiones de la mirada en el cine urbano de Latinoamérica del siglo XXI (City and Phantasmagoria: Dimensions of Seeing in the Latin American Twenty-first Century Urban Cinema), published in 2019.

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Director Statement

This film originated in Mexico. Walking the streets of Puebla and Mexico City, while reading Walter Benjamin –the German thinker who spent a great deal of time observing urban materiality and life– brought to life the character of Nico. Nico would be a walker, an observer, a thinker, but a distraught one because an unacknowledged trauma from his past in Oklahoma does not allow him to live in peace. Traveling by bus in Mexico gave me the idea of Sebastian’s character. Through his character we present an unusual angle to the U.S./Mexico dynamics, as Sebastian travels from the U.S. into Mexico.

It was wonderful to film in Oklahoma with the actor David Slemmons, whose activism from the 60s inspired who became his character (Leam). The Native American Mvskoke Creek artist Sydne Gray and the Yuchi-Mvskoke Creek actor Richard Ray Whitman brought to life the characters Syd and Lloyd. It was important that their characters are who help decipher a terrible secret hidden in this land because past Oklahoma events and the reddish Oklahoma soil are also part of this film.

Rural United States and modern urban Mexico, as well as English and Spanish, intermingle in this multicultural film, shot in Mexico, Oklahoma, and a short part in London, UK. The film owes its aesthetics and narrative to the many creative women and men involved in the production. Our intention was to tell an emotional and thought-provoking story through an unconventional structure and visual narrative. I hope you enjoy the film!
Carolina Rueda, director.