Another Fine Review of Sirwiñakuy! (And some notes on cameras, and creativity)

The DVD front cover

Yesterday, a positive review was published of my first film, Sirwiñakuy, in The Beverly Hills Outlook (link here).

Here's an excerpt below:

"What is most significant about this remarkable film from 2010 is how completely director Amy Hesketh absorbs and makes cinematic conventions her own, breaking them at will, such as her insertion of sped up footage though back streets to bridge scenes, as opposed to standard editing practices. Though her approach is an exercise in masterful storytelling, she boldly turns to documentary techniques when her fiction leads to an open Andean market, where whips are sold as common merchandise. Despite her employment of cinematic narrative traditions, her approach is also symbolic, with the Andes, whose culture she drew upon for her basic premise, hovering over the landscape in the background, and in red high heels that represent Woman’s sexual nature."

I love going back, now that I'm directing my fourth feature film, Olalla, and looking at what I accomplished in the beginning. It's been an amazing outpouring of creativity since then. I've had the luxury of writing scripts, and see them made into films, things of beauty. I'm very proud of the work I've done so far.

Often, a director can be forced to make certain choices in the cinematography, and the way a story is told, based on the camera that is used. This can be especially true with low-budget independent cinema. When Sirwiñakuy was in the planning stages, Jac and I discussed cameras. He had a professional Canon camera that had a great sensor on it, but only shot in SD. I really wanted to shoot Sirwiñakuy in HD. And the only HD cameras our company owned at the time were two Canon prosumers. But, they had CCD sensors and a great look. I convinced Jac that the film could be made with them. We had shot test footage with them, and it gave the film the voyeuristic, hazy look I was going for.

What those cameras also did for the film was make it easier to experiment with shots, especially in the taxi, and in the market in El Alto. When you can take a camera off of a tripod and do handheld without the necessity of a huge crew, you can achieve different shots. You don't call attention to yourself, your crew, it's more on the fly, and you'll be surprised with what you get.

I've been thinking about a new camera, something that can be taken off the tripod, held in the hand and go out into the street, the jungle, anywhere, and how that will change the way a story is told. It's time to loosen up a little.

You can find this film on VermeerWorks.com and Amazon.com

The Official Theatrical Trailer of Dead But Dreaming!

The 25th of July Dead But Dreaming (Muerta Pero Soñando) hits Bolivian movie theaters! Below is the fantastic trailer of Jac Avila's latest masterpiece, featuring yours truly and many other talented actors, such as Veronica Paintoux, Mila Joya, Jac Avila, Jorge Ortiz, Claudia Moscoso, Rhobess Pierre, Beto Lopez, Eric Calancha, and many more!

Use the toggles below to watch it in HD, it's worth it!

Review of Barbazul by Dean Andersson on IMDB

What joy to wake up this morning and find a great review of Barbazul (Bluebeard) by the renowned horror writer Dean Andersson on IMDB!

Here's the link to the original or you can read it here below:

Amy Hesketh's BARBAZUL is an effective horror film of great style and insight that would give Hannibal Lecter the creeps!, 12 February 2013

Author: C Dean Andersson

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

One of the love scenes in Barbazul

Based upon the classic serial killer horror of Bluebeard, BARBAZUL presents a new and chillingly effective original version of the tale. Jac Avila skillfully plays Barbazul/Bluebeard with a charming sophistication that seduces innocent and worldly victims alike. As the advertising promo for the film says, he loves women, he just can't stop killing them. And some of those murders in the film are written, staged, and directed by Hesketh in such a way that they crawled under my horror movie radar and jumped me from the inside. I have seen so many scary movies, but the kind that play it easy, using gore and jump-out-at-you scenes, fade as soon as the film is through. Others, like the suspense classics of Hitchcock or the shadowy mood pieces produced by Val Lewton, slip up on you and instead of making you react by looking away, keep you watching, even when it begins to feel like you are intruding on something very private that you would really rather not see. But then it's too late. You saw. It's in your mind. And it keeps coming back to you at odd moments the next day, and afterward. It is obvious Hesketh impressed me, again.

Amy Hesketh's character getting the treatment in Barbazul

Each of her films thus far, Le Marquis de la Croix and Sirwiñakuy, have been a unique and strong example of how entertaining artistic films that break the mold and defy convention can be. Being a writer myself, of course I credit the way Hesketh creates the underlying story with how effective the work becomes. And her character in BARBAZUL is a writer whose demise is every writer's nightmare! "Come on, just give me another minute to finish this, I'm almost done, just a moment more, don't interrupt me right now, come back later, let me finish!" It is a diabolical scene for a writer to watch. But at least, all of us who have been interrupted while trying to write do not, hopefully, have happen to us what Hesketh has happen to her character! And then, of course, it gets worse.

Beto Lopez as the sinister butler, Walter

All of the actors turn in excellent performances. Jac Avila's stylish interpretation of Bluebeard was aristocratic and cultured even as the sociopath within him does cold-blooded Evil, reminding me of Vincent Price's best performances. Roberto Lopez's Walter is one of the creepiest butlers on film, sinister without being overt, very subtle and effective, one of those "there's something wrong here but nothing I can put my finger on so it's probably just my imagination, but--" kind of things...if there were an anti-Batman, this is the anti-Alfred,or even more, "Klove" in the second Christopher Lee Dracula film Hammer Films made, Dracula Prince of Darkness. Come tothink of it, this could almost have been Bluebeard Prince of Darkness!

The very long journey

Mila Joya as Soledad

The ride to get to Barbazul's plantation (castle) over the twisting, turning road (like the one leading to Castle Dracula) emphasizes how far from any kind of help the women he takes there are. And the countryside through which the road passed reminded me of the beautiful, vast emptiness of the high desert of Northern Arizona where I once lived. Mila Joya's innocent and noble character totally sells her growing unease and alarm as she becomes more and more aware that she has been trapped by a monster (like Jonathan Harker in Castle Dracula!--and it just occurred to me that Hesketh's Dracula, if she ever chooses to do one, might finally nail Stoker's classic better than anyone ever has...). Another "victim," convincingly portrayed by Veronica Paintoux as an aggressive and worldly counterpart to Joya's character's helpless innocence, makes you believe she can damn-well take care of herself, which makes it even worse, for her, when she suddenly discovers that, no, not really, she can't handle Barbazul, either.

Veronica Paintoux as Annabelle

Original music by Brad Cantor and La Negra Figueroa added just the right touch to the film, reminding me, somewhat, in the best way of a Goblin score for an Argento classic. Finally, "Superb" does not really do this film justice. "Eros and Thanatos" writ large might be a better description, "Sex and Death," "Beauty and Horror," like the face of the great Barbara Steele's "Muriel" at the end of NIGHTMARE CASTLE, or the visage of the Norse Goddess Hel, half beautiful and seductively alive, half dead and nightmarishly decayed. In BARBAZUL, you can't have one without the other, see? As if you'd want to, right? And one extra bonus--if you happen to have seen Richard Burton's portrayal of Bluebeard in that famous old film, Jac Avila will finally make Burton's face stop flashing into your mind at the mention of the name, "Bluebeard." So, in addition to this great new film, thank you, Amy and Jac, for that!

Jac Avila as Barbazul, effectively erasing Burton's face from your memory

A Review by C. Dean Andersson of Sirwinakuy

You can read the review published on IMDB right here! I've syndicated it below for your viewing pleasure with a few photos. This made my month! Maybe my entire year!

In a previous review I was compared to Lars von Trier and Susanne Biers, now Alfred Hitchcock and Truffault. Very nice.

You can download Sirwiñakuy here or buy the DVD with its pretty cover here!

Is Amy Hesketh the next Hitchcock? Truffaut? Bigelow? No! Better than that!, 8 November 2012

Author: C Dean Andersson

I'm on the left...

Amy Hesketh and Alfred Hitchcock have the same initials. Coincidence? Yes, of course, and yet… The great French Director, François Truffaut, was a great admirer of Hitchcock, and there is a bit of Truffaut in Hesketh's work as well, but… her Sirwiñakuy is a beautiful film that neither Hitchcock nor Truffaut (nor even Kathryn Bigelow) could have made, because it is pure Hesketh. 

I kept asking myself as I watched it, how could this be her first film as a director? It seemed to be the work of a seasoned veteran. It took mundane scenes that should have bored me and somehow made me want to watch and find out where it was going next, because it was obviously, from the first, oddly turned, just enough, to keep me off balance and unsure of what was going to happen next.

Dracula (1931)

 A car ride begins to remind me, for no obvious reason, of Jonathan Harker's ride to Castle Dracula, leaving a known world for the possibly dangerous unknown. 

The journey to the unkown

A walk up a simple staircase turns into, without any obvious visual signals or threatening musical hints, the walk up the determinedly sinister stairs in the Psycho house where Norman Bates might wait at the top… or is Norman the man walking up the stairs, or even the woman with him? Or none of the above? See what I mean? It kept me guessing, and in the end, all of the trite stereotypes I'd imagined were blown away by what really happened. 

So, while I don't want to give anything specific away by describing particulars, I will say that if you like suspense mixed with unusual, non-sentimental romance, featuring expert performances by Jac Avila and Veronica Paintoux (and Chuqui the Cat), and a plot that should keep you guessing up to the very last moment, give Amy Hesketh's Sirwiñakuy a look, and then follow it with Hesketh's subsequent work. I can guarantee with almost 100 percent certainty that she will not ever pull her punches on you, won't leave you feeling cheated. And in the best showbiz tradition, I suspect her films, now and in the future, are always going to leave you wanting more!

A scene from Sirwiñakuy

Barbazul Debuts in Bolivian Cinemas October 11th

Pachamama Films prepares the debut of Barbazul, a new Bolivian film, for the 11th of October.

Barbazul is Amy Hesketh’s second film, the American filmmaker residing in Bolivia, director of the controversial film Sirwiñakuy. This new production made in Bolivia debuts October 11th in the Multicinein La Paz and the Cine Centers of La Paz, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba.

Barbazul is based on the classic fairytale  ”La barbe bleue” (Bluebeard, 1697) by Charles Perrault, author of Cinderella, which tells the story of a wealthy and feared aristocrat with a blue beard who has the bad habit of killing his wives. In the original story the sinister aristocrat, with many wives already under his belt and whose fates are a mystery, convinces a neighbor to give Bluebeard his youngest daughter’s hand in marriage. The bearded villain takes his new young and terrified wife to his castle, gives her the keys to all of the rooms and the liberty to open each one, with the exception of one room.

Read the whole article at Pachamama Films...

CineKink 2012 - Sirwiñakuy

The other night, amid some stress about the new production, I was asking Jac about whether or not we'd heard back from CineKink, when I answered my own question by looking at the inbox. Just then the doorbell rang and Jac went downstairs to see who it was, I checked the email, scrolled down the list of selections and saw Sirwiñakuy in the "S" section. When Jac came back upstairs, I had a big grin on my face.

It's really nice to have my first film be selected for CineKink NYC, not only because it's my first film and my first festival, but because of what CineKink represents. CineKink is one of the only festivals of its kind, and the largest, featuring films that range from Hollywood and beyond. They receive mountains of submissions, so to be selected by them is an honor, especially with my first film.

After the festival in NYC, CineKink goes on tour with the films, all over the USA. So, many will have the chance to see Sirwiñakuy in the theater as many already did in Bolivia. Speaking of which, there has been a large number of people clambering for a second round of Sirwiñakuy in theaters here in Bolivia, which we intend to answer with "Si!" and put it again in the theaters.

Overall the response to my first film is one that not many people have experienced, being attacked by critics, loved and hated, respectively, by the audience,  and selected by an international film festival. It's had an impact.

In addition, I feel that attending the festival (I'll be there the 10th-12th) is a great opportunity to mingle with like-minded filmmakers and an audience that are open to the types of films celebrated by CineKink. It's a rare opportunity.

We shall see how the audience in NYC greets my film on Saturday, February 11th, 2012, at the Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue (@ 2nd Street). I hope to see you there!

New Production!

The poster of Dead But Dreaming

I'm really excited to announce the new production of Pachamama Films/Decadent Cinema, Dead But Dreaming, slated to begin shooting in early 2012!

I'll be producing and acting in this one, much like Maleficarum. Veronica Paintoux, myself, Mila Joya, and Jac Avila are starring, and we're casting soon for lots of other parts. There are lots of interesting speaking parts in this one.

This movie is sizing up to be quite a production, read big. We're already looking at a lot of exotic locations in Bolivia. The diversity in Bolivia and the cost of production will give us some really spectacular scenes.

Since the movie takes place in different parts of the world and in different times, this is a real challenge for me, but one I'm happy to rise to.

I just love making movies!