 everyone and welcome back to stay in Yanahad. My name is Maria Mera, I'm your host and I'm also a financial advisor with Edward Jones. I'm super happy today because I'm bringing an awesome documentary filmmaker and also an awesome friend and a fellow Spaniard, Gemma Cubero del Barrio. Gemma, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you, thank you for having me. It's great to see you, Maria. Okay, well, we interviewed you five years ago, so five years back and we've changed, we've both changed a little bit, but please let us know. Yeah, just a little. The last, what is the documentary filmmaker for those of us who are not so familiar with it? So a documentary filmmaker is a person that is a storyteller. I would say a storyteller in the 21st century because his documentary means that we tell stories that are based in reality. Hopefully stories that have not been told before. So we give opportunities to bring new voices into the world, but certainly about realities that are already here, but may not be seen. And we use the language of cinema. So the beauty of documentary film is that you're showing reality, but using sound and the visual language of cinema and music. And it's a very collaborative medium. It's not like a painter that paints a bite by herself. It's really, you really need an amazing team to make it happen and amazing stories from real people. So do you write the movies? So you'll get a script before, an idea before? So I'm gonna tell you my process, which is certainly my defer from other filmmakers. So an idea emerged for me, I consider that each film is a universe. So I don't work with a script. What I do is I come from journalism. So I use all the codes of ethical codes of journalism. I find a story that is gonna interest me for long enough to be able to sustain it, to see how it develops. So I contact the characters, I gain access, that access is everything in documentary film. And then I spend whatever times it takes, whatever time it takes for me to really enter that universe and to be able to capture the essence of the person that I am or the subject matter that I am treating. So I don't, the script is an organic process that you create as you go. So you might have an idea, but you always have to be very flexible to adjust, to get to know the person, the idea changes, the filmmaker changes in the process, the character's life change in the process. So changes are really a very organic. Yeah, ingredient in documentary film. So, but you must have some sort of timeline, right? Or do you know how long it's gonna take you to get at least the filming of the movie? So I really never know. Of course I've made films in two years, which that is a quick timeline for me, but I really never know how long it's gonna take. I'm an independent filmmaker, so I have a lot of freedom in terms of how I raise the money. Sometimes the raising of the money takes a lot of time. Sometimes depending on the story that you are dealing with, the story does not develop. So you need to be very witness to the person's life. And there are many factors why it might take you years to do a film, and I normally let that process speak to me. But then I wanna say that the script is actually made once you have gathered all the ingredients, all the interviews, and then you work with an editor. I work with an editor to craft the script based on the footage that you have already shot and the interviews that you have. And then the timeline will be determined based on the funding and the story that you're telling. So do you, for what I hear, and again, for my finance background, do you do your own funding? I actually raise the money, yeah. I mean, you're involved in raising the money. I'm not independently working. No, I mean, no, no, no, I mean, you are the one searching for those funds. Yeah, in my case, yes. I produced and direct, and I was very fortunate before I got into film to work in the nonprofit sector and learn the craft of fundraising. I remember talking to my family in Spain, they were like, fundraising, what is that? You're begging for money. But they really helped me to be able to figure out how to get the financing through foundations, individual donors, PBS has been very generous with me. So you get the funds, I raise the money for the films. Yeah. Let's get started, because I'm sure our audience is already looking forward to hear about your film. So let's start with the very first one, Ayes el Matador, System Matador. Tell us a little bit about that first project. So Ayes el Matador is a story about two women that are really rare in the sense that they are, they're actually in the profession of bullfighting, not as viewers or expectators, but actually as matadors. The film follows the two women, passion into this profession. And we work, I made this film with Celeste Carrasco. This was our first film. It was primarily shot in Spain, but also we spent time in Latin America. And the film did really well. It premiered on POV in point of view. It showed over the years. It continues to show. And every film you make is about, you come up with an idea. So this was definitely a film about women, why the women cannot bullfight. And then in the process of making the film, we really discovered that bullfighting has really no gender in the sense of what it takes to be in front of the animal. So it's a really beautiful film, I'm very proud of it. We had a recent screening with the Spanish Embassy in LA and Maripa was able to join from Mexico and she is still a big fan of the film. So how was the welcome in Spain of the movie? Was it, because bullfighting in Spain is becoming more and more controversial. So was it well accepted? So it was difficult. It was difficult because in different ways. During the making of the film, a lot of people were not supportive of the women bullfighting because they're rare and unknown. And it was also difficult because some women don't necessarily want these women to be doing bullfighting. So we faced a lot of obstacles, but I have to say that the film has done very well. Like it showed nationally on PBS. It was one of the most watched films in the US. It really never showed in Spain. I remember the reason why and it's because they really didn't want to bring up the issue of bullfighting and Spanish television. So I thought that was really ironic that the film really got a lot of recognition outside of Spain, but it still has not shown on Spanish television because it's a very political subject matter. But I have to say that it's been really beautiful how it has been embraced even by the, for instance, the bullfighting community that I thought it would be like really, maybe nervous about showing the experiences of women. I know they really actually, one of the biggest compliments we got is that the men also really connected to the story that we were saying. So, but the film got a screening festivals in Spain and we got a couple of awards. But it has never shown on Spanish television. It's maybe one day what will happen. I feel like the film is really timeless. So I'm not gonna say that maybe one day it will show. Yeah, I agree. And it was my first movie, seeing that first movie from you and I was very impressed. So, okay, so we go from Spain to Hawaii, also very character based that have completely different documentary from sees the Matador to automatic cake. So tell us about this movie filming Hawaii. So I fell in love with Hawaii and I moved here years ago and through a friend of a friend, I got to know Otto from Otto cake. You might know him, he's based in Kaimuki and he's this amazing artist whose expression is really to create this amazing cheesecakes. And he's endless. He's a very creative person. And at the time that I met him, he was really dealing with a lot of crime and a lot of what at that time, I consider police corruption. Like the shop was really attacked by drug dealers and so on and nobody was doing anything about it. So he gave me a call and asked me if I could come and help him. And I followed him for five years and we premiered the Hawaii International Film Festival in 2017 and it was really beautiful. I did this film without raising any money. I wanted to really do it in a different way, shoot it myself, because I thought it would be extremely difficult to actually raise funds for a character like Otto even though he is super popular. And it was really, I learned a lot about just doing a film with your own resources, very deep doing it yourself. And yeah, so that is automatic cake. Every film I make is completely different. That's one of my challenge. Very different, yeah. So that one and we've been seeing, while you were talking, we've been seeing some pictures of the premiere and so those are pictures of the screenings and the premieres. And this was when Otto had the store downtown, not in Kainuki, right? It was more like the downtown, yeah. Yes, okay. Okay, so we keep moving to now, which one should we go first? Because the next one is based in the same place, also very character based, very strong women as characters. So let's do our Otto, let's pick. Whichever you want. Let's see. The island in me first, yeah. Okay, let's do the island in me. So tell us about this project. Is it already done? So it's almost done. And so when I moved to Hawaii, I've been living in Hawaii for over a decade, but in 2012 I moved back here and that's when I started with automatic cake. And also, but I moved back to Hawaii because I was following the life of Amelia Borowski and Johnny Frisbee, two really remarkable women that have grown in an atoll in the Pacific in the Cook Islands called Puka Puka. So the film has been named Homecoming for many years but now I just changed the film to the island in me and now we are submitting to festivals and very soon we will be able to celebrate a premiere which I'm really excited about but I can't really reveal yet. So yeah, I've worked on that film for nine years and it's almost done. My all my team is finishing the color and sound and the music is done. So I'm really excited that that's coming up next. So I'm gonna interrupt you Hema because you picked my curiosity. Why did you change from Homecoming to the island in me? You know, it's very common with a documentary film. You start with a title because you have to create a proposal that we did a crowdfunding campaign. And at that time I knew the film was essentially about the return of these two women back to their childhood home. So it was a Homecoming, right? At that time it was named for many years Homecoming. Everybody knows it as Homecoming. And then very recently actually the film was almost done, right? So the film was crafted, the script had been written in the sense of the film was edited. I picked your locket and nine years have passed. And now if you go into Netflix and you type Homecoming it was like, I couldn't believe it. It was the same like Homecoming a film about Beyonce, Homecoming, the series Homecoming. So I knew that that title would not work and it was challenging to change it because people have known it as Homecoming. But I also realized that the island in me is a much better title because in the process of making the film you go through the experience of it. And for me this film that is coming up is very much about, it's very personal and it's also about I want the audience when you watch it that you feel like the island is in you when you leave the movie. Okay. So the island in me is really for all of us is to feel it that way. So the women for the women in the film especially but also I hope that you will also take a little bit of the island with you. Okay. So tell us a little bit about this island how many people live there? So Pucca Pucca is a coral atoll located in the northern group of the Cook Islands. I think right now about 400, 450 people live in Pucca Pucca. Most of Pucca Pucca's live in, they migrate to there they live in the diaspora and in actually in New Zealand and Australia most of them. And it's a place that has never been documented in film before. It's an atoll that has its own language like the Vasques for instance in Spain is like even though they're part of the Cook Islands their language is ancient more than 2000 years old and they keep their own cultural practices their own traditions. And so the... Do they also speak English mostly or... They speak a little bit of English. There's a school where they learn English most people they speak a little bit of English but their language is really Pucca Pucca. And it's very interesting now that I'm taking it to festivals I can never find Pucca Pucca in the choice of language so people are actually adding the Pucca Pucca language too. Oh good, yeah. I love that. But yeah, it's a really remarkable place that has a lot to offer. And the story of the island in me tells is the journey of these women how the atoll marked the life of these women. And also you will see that I ended up putting myself in the film because the island also really created a deep impact on me. So, you know... So geographically speaking I'm just thinking about the logistics of filming this. You have to fly to the Cook Islands and then from the Cook Islands take a boat. I'm just... I encourage everybody to Google Pucca Pucca and see how they can get there. There's actually it's very difficult to get there. There's not like charter... You have to charter a plane. There are two ways to get there. Go to Rarotonga and wait for a boat. Whenever the boat leaves, you'd really never know when. There's no passenger boats. There's like cargo, only cargo boats that go by. Now with COVID I think everything has been shut down so there's really not even transportation but there's no scheduled transportation. And you need to bring most of the, you know everything that you need in. And then you could also charter a plane but it's very, very expensive to charter a plane to get there. So... So no hotels or no place to stay other than with the locals? No, it's also a culture that is outside of the capitalist system in the sense that they do deal with money and they're very intelligent with it and super sophisticated culture. But it's really a place that is outside of the capitalist system they have. It's a communal society. Okay, so do they depend on the New Zealand government? Or... So the island is self-sufficient in terms of food and they are able to live out of the food and the fish that is in the ocean. That's sufficient, yeah. Yeah, they're self-sufficient. Of course the boats are changing the island too. Like they do bring like other goods, you know like meat and you know just other things that like right now they have solar power that New Zealand actually help install in the island. And they have a very strong connection of course to Rotonga and the Cook Islands. But also the influence of New Zealand is very strong in the sense that they do get... They have a New Zealand passport and there's a bank in Pukapuka. So a lot of the transactions actually happen with New Zealand. Yeah, okay. I would like our audience to have because we are talking about it but it's nothing like a thousand words plus a video, right? So let's see the video of our atoll speaks and then we will talk about the other movie. We are the children of the Ulu of the Watu. How long can we go Pukapuka, the island home? Climate change is the biggest threat to our existence. Our atoll speaks. I wanted people to see it because I think that just the image it means so much, right? What a beautiful place and the last about the voice that who talks there. So the beauty for me of this film, this film I never thought I was gonna make it but we were making the island in me and then I needed to go back to Pukapuka. So we got funding from the United Nations to be able to return and they asked me to do something about climate change but they said, you know, four or five minutes, something on climate change, they gave me complete freedom. So I have done so many interviews. I went back to Pukapuka and lived there for five months and they give me, I have so much information when I return that we decided that we will be making this film by selecting the lines from the interviews. We will do the script, the narration that you hear by selecting the lines from the people that talk to me about climate change and conservation practices. And with Amelia Borowski and Johnny Frisbee, the main characters of the other film, we actually created the narrative. And then it occurred to me, Johnny Frisbee, she's a Cook Island legend. She's the only Pukapuka woman living also near me in Hawaii, you know, and she's an amazing writer. So we decided that she would be the voice for the film and it will be the voice of the people of Pukapuka. So that is her beautiful voice. Beautiful, beautiful voice. Yeah, it's so spiritual, right? That it's almost like you feel it more or at least it had that effect on me. Okay, so this is Spaniard who went from Spain to LA, to Hawaii, to Pukapuka and thanks to you, we all know where Pukapuka is, at least in Hawaii. Where is your heart, Fema? Where is my heart? Yep. Geographically speaking, because you've been to so many places and had so many experiences. Where is the place where you want to be? You know, I have a very deep connection with Hawaii. I actually feel that this is a big place for me. My heart is wherever I go, but certainly I feel a very deep connection here. So what makes you be young at heart these days, just connecting to our topic? So, you know when I told you that in filmmaking, I just was thinking about this today, in filmmaking, you look for the essence of the story. I feel for me, what is happening to me as I'm growing older, I face a lot of difficulties, especially with the film business and in many aspects of my life, you know? So I think I'm discovering that what keeps me young is to try to remember to worry less and also be more playful. Trying to, you know, I'm more in the process of looking at my, what is my essence, you know? And how can I keep that alive and go deeper with it? Being in nature is definitely being here by the ocean. I walk when I'm here every day at the beach and it's just like such a source of light for me and inspiration. Having connection with people that I love is really big for me. So I think that keeps me also young at heart. But one thing that I learned in Puka Puka that was life-changing is that they work hard but also they play hard and they pray. So spirituality in whatever form or shape you wanna connect to is a really big part of my life. And I don't wanna sound new agey, but I really mean it. Like having faith that things are going to work out even when they are completely outside of my control. That's the word, those are beautiful words. And now with your sound voice, it keeps us cut. So now your next project or to finalize your project is the island in me. Can you tell us when we can see it? So I'm gonna have news soon about a wonderful premiere that we just locked, but I can't announce it yet. But, you know, I have a talk well-filmed page. You guys can also follow us on social media. So I will be announcing it, you know, maybe in a couple of months or so. And you know how the film works, right? You first go to festivals and then hopefully we will be able to make it available through PBS because PBS has funded the film Pacific Islanders and Communications. I don't have all the details nor I can reveal them right now but I'm really hopeful that the film will really reach, you know, new audiences and people that have been waiting to watch the film for a long time, you know, through festivals and also television broadcasts. But, you know, we'll have to wait a little bit more. So one more thing, because I can see that all your movies are very much based on someone. What makes you click? What makes you say this is the person and this is the story? It has to be, you know, the beginning of my career. I found the stories on the news maybe because I was trained as a journalist. Right now I'm finding it more in my life. For me, it has to be a subject or a person that captivates me. This is because I don't know how long it's gonna take me or what it's going to take because it really is a deep dive for me. I need to find somebody that is, I wanna learn something from them or from her or in the end, I have to say, Maria, that when I finish my films and in the process of making the films, I realize that we are all like mirrors, like we're all reflecting each other. So I have to say that my films are all completely different but I identify with their parts of me in all of them. So it's almost like I'm making films about other people but there's no separation, if that makes any sense. Oh, definitely. They say that you are the mix of your best five friends or the five people that you spend more time with. You are just that mix, right? For you it's even more because you have so many friends. Yeah, yeah. So I guess, Gemma, I'll take a little bit of you and you can take a little bit of me. It's been, it's always been a pleasure to spend some great moments with you and I hope we can still do that. And please, if you have any other words then we will just say goodbye. Well, you keep me young at heart. So I'm really pleased and I certainly we have met for many reasons. So really thank you for giving me the opportunity to share this with you and with everyone. Likewise, Gemma, thank you very much. I will leave my audience with those words and stay young at heart and we'll see you on our next episode. Thank you, Gemma. Bye-bye. Besitos.