The World Premiere of the feature film Sacrificios, held at the 32nd Annual Austin Film Festival, is directed by Mauricio Chernovetzky, from a script he co-wrote with Alexander Ioshpe. The film is described as “a haunting tale of grief, faith, and love in all of their most terrible contradictions.” The film falls under the Dark Matters category and is classified as a psychological horror thriller that explores the chilling depths to which one will go to reverse a tragic loss.
The film stars Jorge A. Jimenez, Siddhartha Tonalli, Frida Astrid, Noé Hernandez, and Costanza Andrade. Scheduled to attend the first screening are the following talent: lead actor Jorge A. Jimenez (starring as Juan), actress Frida Astrid (starring as Alma), production designer Adelle Achar, and producer Ernesto Martinez Arévalo.
Writer/Director Mauricio Chernovetzky and co-writer Alexander Ioshpe attended the festival and both screenings. We met at The Austin Club to talk about the film.
Mauricio (director and co-writer) – After having lived internationally (including the USA), he returned to live in Mexico City. He heard people speak of the history of myths and mentioned his visits to museums and the books he had become familiar with. He found the mythology from the past to be “fascinating,” and “in particular, Mictlantecuhtli, which is the God of Death.”
“Mictlantecuhtli is the God of the Underworld who demands a sacrifice. It looks like a hungry child, and the image had a major impact on me. In Mexico, there is a significant focus on mothers, but not often on fathers. This focus is on the father; he is vulnerable and raw. I thought about a father and if he can keep the child alive.” The story then begins to explore this, the intensity, and “to see what or where it goes.” There is “contradiction, and it is important to connect with it.”
Another influence on the script came from a friend who went kayaking across the body of water. The story he shared of an experience he had while out there was impressive. We did not explore the details of the friend’s experience during the interview to discuss what happened, but one can wonder if it was indeed a supernatural experience.
Alexander [co-writer and producer] “Beyond the mystical, I am a storyteller in life.” I heard Mauricio talk about the script and “thought it was perfect about grief. My role, hopefully, is to bring the layers, make it interesting and relatable, to feel pain and culpability.” He said the story deals “openly and directly; very raw/true.”
Mauricio – “The movie took a long time to make, especially getting the funding. I didn’t want the film to be “normal, to not give a resolution.” He wants it to “get inside” the viewer, “not only the mystical but the psychological too.”
Alexander – “We tend to write subjectively, have the audience experience somebody’s vision (of the film). People can connect.”
Q- Can you speak about the child actor and how you found him?
Mauricio – “In Mexico City, we held a casting with about 4 kids. We gave them lines to read, not from the film. A coach brought him to the casting, and when the child actor was asked to read the lines, he refused – five times. He had an intense look. (The team) looked at me as if I was crazy when I said, ‘he’s the one’ and then spoke to the coach.” He said they were in a quiet corner away from others, and “over mezcal” told the coach, “I take full responsibility” for the selection. He also stated that in the movie, this child is 4 years old.
Alexander – “He is raw, real, and terrifying.”
Q – How about the cast lead, Jorge A. Jimenez, who stars as the father?
Mauricio – “For Jorge, this is the first time as a lead in a feature film. Yes, he is great in many other series he has starred in (during his career).” He also mentioned an interview he had with a Mexican reporter who said he would not be surprised if he were to win an award. “I directed him by sharing stories. He is intuitive.”
Alexander – “He has an organic (manner) in his acting – but not acting, more as if living it.” Alexander said, “he does this like in Russian cinema,” describing an example.
Q- Can you add information about the (Mexican) mythology, if someone is not familiar?
Mauricio – “Yes, I had someone question it, and it was incorrect.” “We wanted to be more porous; allow this layer, as both the father and child saw the image. It is a paradox of who the man is.”
Alexander – “It is not only a portal for the child, but also the audience. (It shows) What the image makes him feel is like a door that opens. Whatever happens…. some can’t know, nor explain.”
Q – Is there more you would like to say about the film?
Alexander – “It is very fresh, like a blast from a different world. Audiences want (something) new.”
Mauricio- “This is not my first movie.” He added, “For me, the movie took me through hoops (money, locations) and where it took me. This is a human experience.”
Alexander – “You have to go mad a little.”
Q- Has the film been seen in Mexico?
Mauricio – “No, never seen on (public) screens anywhere. We (the co-writers) have not seen the film together and will do so here.”
This premiere marks a key milestone in the film’s international festival journey.
Source: Austin Film Festival, Balthus Films