Filmmaker Statement

In such dark moments, a dream is very welcome. Moon River came from the idealization in romantic films from the 40s to refer to the lightness that cinema provided with all the chaos that was happening in the world. A person, even in a horrible war scenario, could sit in a cinema, hold their breath and only let it out when they left the room laughing or crying. The short is about dreamlike scenarios and the idealistic love that comes with meeting someone new. A breath of air in such complicated times that we live in, where having a relationship, perhaps, after troubled years, has become a difficult issue in our lives. Something that once seemed simple, like talking to someone, has become extremely difficult. This film is about bonds. Bonds that, often, formed in seconds, can change a lot. Nat the main character sees herself in a way, and when Lucas comes in, she has a new light about herself. This is my very first movie as a director after working on the movie industry. For a very long time I tried to understand my place in the world as I felt that my stories needed to be told, but few people wanted to listen. Since I was a child, art was my refuge when everything around me was confusing. I started to study acting, and there I realized I could be whoever I wanted to, and there I found my passion. We grow old and the world changes around us: With time, acting, that brought me so much joy, became oppressive, exclusionary and what I feared most, a sad place for me. Not because of the art itself, but because of the impossibility I had of telling stories by just being me. What I wanted to tell, few wanted to listed to, because in their eyes, my body was made for other, smaller, segregated roles. It was on the day that I suffered racism on my first real big set and I came home crying, that I realized that if I didn't tell my own stories I would always be left to tell what others wanted. I found in directing a way to tell my stories, but I to let others tell theirs too. In each person who works together in a production, a mark is left. Making art is not easy, especially where I grew up. This film, for me as a director is a beginning, a kick start to tell the world my story and the ones of everyone that has worked on the movies are important.