Rehje

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT:

The Rehje project initially began during the March 2006 World Water Forum held in Mexico City. We wanted to introduce the problem of water and rural depopulation in the valley of Mexico through the story of a human being.

We met our subject, Antonia, while investigating the Mazahua people in Mexico City. After spending a long and interesting time with different Mazahua communities and organizations in the countryside, we wanted to learn more about the migrants, their past and how they were living in the city.

We instantly got along with Antonia. She told us about her problems and her dreams, and invited us in her village. At the end of this trip, we knew that this was the story we were looking for, and we had a clear vision of the other topics that we would explore through her life: what it is like to be an Indian, to be a woman, to be an immigrant.

The tone of the movie is intimate, personal: we wanted to create empathy and understanding.
We did not want to film a political pamphlet. The problems that we wanted to unveil are highlighted in the content of the documentary. Our aim was to bring human dimensions to and deeper insight into what is currently an abstract problem.

Our objective was to deal with the problem of water through the story of Antonia, the story of a woman who is aware she cannot come back home. The lack of water becomes both an allegory and a real problem that unveils other issues.

While we were filming, the personality and the internal conflict facing Antonia became the main theme of the film because of its human dimensions. Whereas water scarcity is an abstract issue, Antonia’s pain and feelings were real, deep, and strong.

During the editing process, we found it difficult to put aside the problem of water. Documentary filmmakers continually face such issues: reality constantly impacts and modifies your work, and you need to adapt and change the structure of the film several times.

In order to be faithful to Antonia’s personal tone, we chose to use her voice to narrate the story; her life is narrated through her voice over, and she sometimes faces the camera.