Standard Fantastic Pictures presents: A film by Omar Lopex: "Ana, Who They Pulled Out of the River" plus short films by Hugo Crosthwaite, Ryan Betschart, Danielle Higgins, Ash Eliza Smith and Paolo Zuñiga. Monday, Nov. 8, 2021 Mingei International Museum 1:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m Free. About the film: Ana, Who They Pulled Out of The River is the debut feature-length film by writer/director Omar Lopex of Standard Fantastic Pictures. Lopex says his film is a marriage of the Telenovela (Mexican Soap Opera) & Arthouse films and calls Ana a “love letter to Tijuana,” the city where he spent his childhood with his grandmother. The film offers a unique portrait of Tijuana by consciously avoiding its 3 most cliched subjects: Drugs, Prostitution, and the U.S./Mexico border wall. In Ana Who They Pulled Out of the River, a mother abandons her infant along the banks of the Tijuana River. She returns 20 years later to find her adult daughter, who being raised collectively by the city of Tijuana has grown up to be a woman stronger than she ever could’ve imagined. Interspersed throughout the film are fantastical adaptations of various world myths, retold as dream sequences by different characters in the film. While Tijuana/Baja California is currently enjoying attention from larger production companies, local TIjuanense actors explain that in most productions lead roles are given to big national/international names while roles for locals are limited to either zombies, prostitutes, narcos, or extras. Ana’s cast is a mix of Tijuana & San Diego locals in all the lead & supporting roles. Its crew is also made up of people from both sides of the border. Boasting an All-Woman cast of local bi-national (SD/TJ) talent, Ana avoids the tourist and recently gentrified hip areas of Tijuana, instead setting it’s melodrama against the backdrop of everyday suburbs. Explaining why the film was shot on 16mm Black & White analog film, Lopex says that “the beauty, expense, and lengthy process of shooting on 16mm instead of digital honors the value of the transborder region & the people who live here.” Lopex collaborated with contemporary artists Hugo Crosthwaite & Toni Larios on elements such as dream sequences, props, animations, & the film’s titles. Inspired by Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye (1973) the entire score for Ana is made up of different versions of the same song -- the standard composed over 100 years ago, The World is Waiting for the Sunrise. Arrangements & recordings by Clinton Ross Davis with Mara Kaye on vocals.
