Help Diana Indie Mexican Filmmaker Finish her Docu

Hey! Hi!

I am Dia born and raised in Tijuana, México. I'm the director and producer of the film Portrait of Absence or a Journey on How to Grieve the Living.

I am in the final stretch of this deeply personal documentary.

What do I

Finishing:

Marketing Materials:

The total of the expenses actual expenses: $8,150

I am seeking your help to finish Portrait of Absence or Journey through grieving the living, my piece needs as listed above: mixing, video materials, sound materials, marketing materials, and a part for the submission to Festivals, my ideal is to have the money to finish the mixings to submit in time for the Cannes International Film Festival, this deadline is at the end of March. I am confident that it will be received well and will be glad to give back these contributions!

Please help me reach this goal!

How it started

In 2018 I found myself assisting Director Fernando Frías de la Parra on the movie I'm No Longer Here. That was when I knew I had to be a Director. To your and my surprise, my background never indicated me that this will happened.

You see, I was born and raised in Tijuana, Baja California, México in a low-class single mom family, I studied all my life in public schools, and thought I was doing the best for my future when I rolled into the state University in Tijuana to study Economy and International Affairs, on top of economic stability I always wanted to change some things in the world.

But life had other plans for me. In México there's a saying: "Cuando algo te toca, ni aunque te quites".

Then, I had a dream to make movies, first an idea of a short, then a feature and finally a documentary that tells the story of those living on the streets of my hometown, in a more humane and even spiritual way.

I realized that the story I wanted to tell was about a family with an absent father, how absence also shapes us, how much silence harms us all, the importance of facing our inner demons, the loneliness that this entails and the existential questions that we all face in doing so.

This family is my family, and the story is the story of my father, the silence around him, and his death in an alley in La Libertad, a neighborhood in Tijuana.

What started

So I started the at the beginning lonely independent filmmaker journey, with no prior credentials, by doing research, shooting interviews, scouting, late nights of writing, and submitting applications to development workshops and grants.

We were going on track getting acceptance letters to go to DOCSMX Film Festival in Mexico City was the peak before the global pandemic changed us all.

In 2021 after what seemed to be the end of the Film Industry as we knew it I had still written and in May of that year I was granted a Mexican Institute of Cinema grant to go into production and shoot my film, the day I found out I cried out of happiness like I didn't know I could.

The journey that started that day in the summer of 2021 has been of no return. Almost two years later I am full of joy, and lessons learned, but also full of conviction that on each step I am following my mission and purpose which is to tell the stories that I have inside me, through beautiful films, coherently with integrity, and always thinking how what I'm making is helping people or why I think would help them, impact them. Now in 2022, I have one film in post-production, one feature script as a first draft, two short films, and two episodic projects in development.

Give Back! Help me make the change!

You will forever have my special thanks!

Below you can see the dossier of the project and stills from the film!

Feel free to follow us on Instagram at portrait of absence

Portraitofabsence Instagram!

Disclaimer: no raffles, sweepstakes, giveaways, or promotions are offered in exchange for any donations made to this GoFundMe.*