A still from Once Upon A Time in Venezuela by Anabel Rodríguez Ríos, an official selection of the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by John Marquez. All photos are copyrighted and may be used by press only for the purpose of news or editorial coverage of Sundance Institute programs. Photos must be accompanied by a credit to the photographer and/or 'Courtesy of Sundance Institute.' Unauthorized use, alteration, reproduction or sale of logos and/or photos is strictly prohibited.
HOT SPRINGS DOCUMENTARY FF INTERVIEWS: Anabel Rodrigues Rios talks about her film, ONCE UPON A TIME IN VENEZUELA
Anabel Rodrigues Rios’ ONCE UPON A TIME IN VENEZUELA is a film that lures you in with a compelling focus on two adversarial characters, yet before the final credits begin, you find you have actually been witness to the elegy of a country, a community, and a way of life. The winner of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival’s Jury Prize for Best International Feature as we watch the villagers of Congo Mirador, a lake community in Venezuela, struggle to stay afloat – quite literally – over the unchecked pollution and sedimentation spoiling its waters as well as the baked-in political corruption that seems to see no end.
However, what is special about the film is Rios’ ability to gain the trust of both the young teacher who hopes to make a difference in spite of it all for her children and her students, as well as the local political representative who doesn’t realize that her tried and true methods of cajoling the poor and struggling locals and actually buying their votes with payoffs is reaching its end. There is melancholy with being witness to the final chapters, but there is also beauty in the hope that refuses to go away and the spirit of reinvention that almost always follows.
In the interview, Rios and I talk about the film being an “act of resistance”, as well as how the film also lends some insight into what is happening in this country at this very moment. We also talk about Rios’ relationship with the two main subjects, how that managed within the considerations of her own politics versus theirs, and how she approached filmmaking while hiding her own anger over the political machinations at that time.
