by Liza Foreman
Oscar-winning writer Guillermo Arriaga (21 Grams, Amores Perros, Babel) wasn’t even 30 when he was asleep in a car which fell off a cliff.
But instead of ending his life, the near-fatal accident inspired the Mexican multihyphenate’s first screenplay entitled ‘A Cielo Abierto’ in his native tongue.
Written in his mid 30s, three decades later the script has become the basis for his children, Santiago and Mariana Arriaga’s feature debut. The siblings co-directed the film from their father’s original screenplay.
“What ignited our wish to do this film was to imagine our father being killed. This fear was huge,” says Santiago.
“It was and still is our fear,” Mariana adds. “And the characters being brothers was something we could identify with.”
This story of revenge follows three teens who take a road trip through the Mexican desert to the American border to track down the man that caused their father’s death in a car accident.
The dramatic road movie world premieres in the Orizzonti section of the festival tonight (August 31, 2023).
Eight years in the making, Santiago found the manuscript in a box while the siblings were studying, he tells The Film Verdict. “It’s a work of art in itself,” he adds, sitting alongside his sister and father – his collaborators on the project.
Discussing working as a family, Santiago says: “We have a rule that the story is the one that rules. Everyone wants the best for the story. We work things out.”
The project is the first feature produced entirely by K&S Films Mexico. The main company is based in Argentina. Sales are being handled by Vicente Canales’ Barcelona-based Film Factory.
Shot in the desert where the family often went on trips, the feature was filmed over a period of forty days, between October and December.
“It was a huge challenge. The desert. Extreme temperatures. New actors. But we had a solid team,” says Mariana, adding, “We went to the border very often as a family. We have an emotional attachment to the area.”
Newcomers Federica García, Máximo Hollander and Theo Goldin head the cast that includes Cecilia Suárez, Sergio Mayer Mori, Julio César Cedillo, Julio Bracho and Manolo Cardona.
“Drawing on personal experience is key to filmmaking,” says Guillermo. “I had a car accident. I wanted to use the experience of the car accident to make my movie. I think it’s very useful to have life experiences. You cannot waste those. Anything that helps you have a different perspective on life is useful in storytelling. It gave me a totally different view of life.”
He adds: “My nose is reconstructed. I broke my cheekbones and temple. But in the end, it’s good that I didn’t die, and thanks to this, I have my daughter and son working with me. It’s the highest privilege for me, and I’m very proud of the film they made. Many directors are assholes with their team, but they knew the names of everyone, and said hello and goodbye to them every day. I prefer good humans to good directors.”
Both now in their 30s, Guillermo feels it’s important that his children are roughly the same age as he was when he wrote this.
He says: “The man who wrote that film was just becoming a father, and imagining not being able to raise them. I want that freshness to remain of the man I was 30 years ago. I think they can understand the film better because it’s their age now. They can respect the feeling.”
Winning Cannes and Academy screenwriting awards, among other nods, since then, Guillermo adds: “There’s no road map to writing. It’s that you have to go piece by piece, work by work. Nothing helps you to write the next film. Everything is a clean slate. I have to focus one by one. We say we writers only have one gallon of ink. I hope mine lasts a lifetime.”
