Ana Paula's story of desperation and determination

This short film from director Leigh Marling, which has just recently come off of the festival circuit, is a story of a young woman determined to escape her dark past and adopt her niece from a government orphanage. 

Filmed on location in Durango, Mexico with non-professional, locally cast actors, the 40-minute film is an emotional, intense, sometimes violent story of desperation, love, survival and the titular young woman who is determined to turn her life around. 

Marling, who was one half of Blue Source, the directing duo behind work for Clark's, Smirnoff, Volkswagen and one of the best music videos you're likely to see in Days Go By, for Dirty Vegas, and who is repped in the UK by BOLD, came up with the concept for Ana Paula after a scheduled feature broke down when the Covid pandemic hit. 

Above: Marling's short film, Ana Paula.

Featuring amazing, nuanced performances by street-cast actors, the film is a captivating story with characters - one of which is the city of Durango itself - that reveal themselves as the story unfolds. 

Below, Marling explains the idea behind the film and how it came into existence, his love for Mexico, and how street-casting this film has changes his approach to casting as a whole.

Where did the inspiration for Ana Paula come from?

I had originally written a crime thriller about an American gangster who was banished to Mexico and met a girl down there who worked in the sex industry. As part of the research for that project, I interviewed a lot of women in Mexico and became very inspired by the hardship they endured, and their resilience in very difficult circumstances. I’ve always loved crime dramas but had envisaged a male hero, but as my understanding of their world grew, the character of Ana Paula kind of took over.

Why did you make the choice to have the story set in a Spanish speaking community?

I have always felt a strong connection with Hispanic culture. My parents drove my bothers and I to Spain for long, hot holidays when we were small and I picked up a smattering of Spanish as a kid. Then, in my twenties, I visited Mexico for the first time and fell in love with the place. 

I interviewed a lot of women in Mexico and became very inspired by the hardship they endured, and their resilience in very difficult circumstances.

I moved to Spain from London in 2006 and have kept a home there ever since. I spend a lot of time in LA which has easy access to Mexico, so I often visit. My Spanish is pretty good now, and when I was researching the original crime thriller I mention above, it suddenly all fell apart because COVID hit. But I had all this research done and so much inspiration, so I decided to go for it and create a local story with local actors and crew. The decision was driven by stuff out of my control, but I just went with it.

Above: Fernando and Ana Paula, played by Moisés Quiñones and Itzel Castrellón.

It feels like the location is as much a character as the actors themselves; what do you think the location brought to the film?

As a photographer and filmmaker, I love to immerse myself in visual worlds and when I first went to the city of Durango, it felt so compelling and textured, like anywhere I pointed the camera was an interesting world. Durango is a desert city with a colonial history, as well as strong ties with the cartels and a proud history of filmmaking, especially Westerns. So it has a kind of harsh beauty that I think frames the story very well. The location is certainly a key character in the story.

You started in design, then worked as part of a directing duo before going solo; was a short film always the plan? 

The plan is and always has been to make a feature - Rob Leggatt - my friend and previous partner [in directing duo Blue Source] and I have always been absolute fanatics about film. Music videos and advertising have been a great way to learn how to become a filmmaker, but feature films were always our goal. 

Music videos and advertising have been a great way to learn how to become a filmmaker, but feature films were always our goal. 

It’s taken longer than I thought, but I just finished shooting my first feature and Ana Paula was an absolute foundation in making that happen. Our success in festivals led to interest from investors and now we are cutting our feature.

Above: Director, Leigh Marling.

Both the characters of Ana and Fernando are played brilliantly; how long did it take and where did you find the two actors who played those parts?

These kids are both non-professional actors who live and work in Durango, Mexico. Once I had decided to make a film with local cast and crew, I had to search long and hard for the right cast, but I managed to find a couple of gems. Non-professional casting can be more difficult but, done right, I think it adds a degree of authenticity and relatability that is often missing with a professional cast. 

A lot of the original movies that were made at the birth of cinema were around this length. The extra length has also helped me gain credibility with investors to make a feature.

I’m hooked on this process now. The previous project that fell apart was contingent on the ‘attachment’ of bankable actors and when COVID hit they had to withdraw. But with this new approach, and using locals, I had total control and I loved working that way. Not sure I could go back to the previous process now. 

Ana Paula is quite long for a short; was that a purposeful choice or just where the story took you?

It’s long because it fell out of the feature script I mention above. It’s kind of one half of that original story. Rewritten, of course. We won a couple of festival prizes in the category of ‘featurette’ and actually a lot of the original movies that were made at the birth of cinema were around this length. The extra length has also helped me gain credibility with investors to make a feature.