10 MAKING LA CIUDAD DAVID RIKER ON POLITICS AND FILMMAKING: DAVID RIKER, longtime member of the Midnight Notes Collective, is the director of the highly-aeclaimed film La Ciudad, which depicts the lives and struggles of Lating immigrants in New ‘York City. Filzwed between 1992 and 1997, is David Riker’ frst fear ture film and it has attacted so much sttention that he has been interviewed many times concerning the film and its making. ‘ba Ciudad is another aurora ofthe Zapatista since i is made in the spint of directness and inclusiveness and as a political project intended to cross many boundaries within the working class. The actors of the film, almost all nn-professionals, are men and women ‘who have been uprooted from every carne afthe Americas during the ecade of the 1990's. As you will read, the making of the film was lise continuous encuentro. “The film is told in four separate stores, bridged by soenes at neighborhood photo studio where newly arrived immigrants have ther portraits made, Inthe first story, “Bricks,” a young day laborer, Scavenging for bricks from a demolished building, is killed when 2 ‘wall collapses. In "Home," two Mexican teenagers from the same vik Tage meet by chance and fallin lave, only to lose each other in avast housing project. "The Puppeteer” wlls of a homeless father’s dreams and difficulties in enrolling his young daughter in school. The final ory, “Seamstress,” concerns 2 sweatshop worker who has not been paid the back wages she is owed and who desperately needs money to fend back home to her sick daughtermaxing LA CIUDAD We introduce David Rikers thoughts on the making of Le Ciudad fn the form of a digest of (ve) interviews made in Flmmmaker Unterview with Stephen Garret in the Februaty-April 1999 issue Cineaste Interview with Robert Sklar in the Vol. XXIV, Nos. 2-3, issue), Release Print (interview by Julis Segrave Jaurigui in the December/January 1999-2000 issue), Revolucionary Worker (March 26, 2000), and fr the Aella Conference on Latina and Latin American Women [New York, May 2000. I is aesompanied by a photo essay on 1a Cutdad made up of stills from the film as well a other related Photos by David Riker and Vietor Sra, 1. Pol eal Perspective "ook at what has happens! snc 1973 sa proce of enone sim to the ecosen atthe ith of epaom fecha Yeas Fusmpe. shows that its essa cpio aca Gp to scaly prodice this uprooted prleerat or werong sien What weve een since them 970s on alobal ed, te noe cone sures, which ae at portant in ther cnsequeoas ae saga Erowures, Sono, in the yer 200, we ind ourselves in ¢ wold in which 2 huge etentgeof workers au sctually aan immense tne hove that place of eign om thts ome cathe migrant es bas the cent sajet foo ine The uprooted won Cota he center te goal atom sea fe whe Sprooed migrate om Lats Aner Workings New Yok Ghiego, Los Ange, ot in same of the tard pas of he Oe whether theye in Europe or whether fact pe yep Smal migrations within Latin Amer om the county ioe Sty, rom one county oaothe, om Nicaragua locking twee “Mexia or Costa Ry tgyase ey ta undateadne shee ng today onthe plane (EW rey immigrant community i going though aproceasofchange, ofesablishing new rotor seating» new et and ba Oa ‘stump ro poruays cman in ermatan igen ae fd ther fest esernce none of eR Mets he hee ‘Sted hey are inna thy selon and they Sind theres sng into a very power sytem of ielatnshpe And they oe sxvhted and they sre sean ny ead the} oe reve Andina herent of tha conic forthe new neato Consiet new tlaonhie saw tha threw on neal See 168mururus 07 te eapariseas / fc Latin American culture developing in New York. So the combina- ton of wanting to make a film about what it fees like to be an tmnt Brant and secing the Latin American culture in New York led te to make a film that combined them. (AELLA} 2. The Filmmaking Process ‘Throughout the process of making La Ciudad, Riker's goal was to make film that reflects what the Latin American immigrant com "munity looks ike and what it is feling atthe end of the century. He chose to east non-actors in almost every rol. In order (to prepare) the Latino immigrants for ther roles, Riker created a dramatic workshop and used 2 combination of improvisational techniques and acting exercises to prepare the cast, "The dramatic workshop,” explaing Riker, “is like an incubation space, where the stories develop and Felations between the nomactors emerge. One of the goals of the workshop is to take a persan who starts aff saying, Youte crazy to hhave me play the lead role’ tothe point where she says, "There is no fone who ean tell my story better than me"{RP] How do you get nonsctors to act ral? Youve got to get beyond anything that’s going to make them selfconscious, Umusing metho logis that are common in comevnity og The idea is that communities can Be transformed only when people identify what their problems are in their own words you draw a picture of your mother, you stat with a blank sheet. Where are you going to put her! And what isthe going to be doing? When you doit all these things are going to be kicked up. From that you stat to talc about stories. For instance, I'l ask [the actors) to ‘remember the moment tht they lft home, the lst moment they saw their children. fa guy stars saying that he got on a bus t0 leave hhome, Tl say “Lets form a bus,” and_we organize the chats into s bbus. So he starts acting it out. And all these other people witness i and their emotions get aught up. Who else knows thet pain. Alot of people. And then we say, "Does that pain have a place in our mt” ‘Yeah, it does, and we need to tap into (tin the film, These workshops lasted generally two to three months and increased in intensity ad ‘Hequency right up until we shot” [FM "You have to picture a group of very strong constrction workers (One of them was Sandinista guerrilla from Nicaragua who — when ‘we were doing an exercise one day of remembering a painful exper: fence — told us how all of his friends were with him inthe Sandinista 18‘movement and how one morning they wee attacked by the Contras and only two survived. And ll of his fiends were killed. And, as this buy was telling the story, he was really bawling, he was erying like ‘aby. And the electrical worker from Peru, the former National Guard from Honduras, and the constriction ‘worker from the ‘Dominican Republic — all men who didn't know each other well — ‘were sitting in tht sacred circle stening to this man from Nicaragua, and their own felings) and thei own experiences were coming up. So 1s important that anyone who attempts to construct a dramatic workshop like this is prepared — because. there is a responsibility, ‘When these emotions come out you have to then make ste there is ro damage done. Which means that, before everyone goes home at the end of the day, the men individually and as 4 group are strong again, Not strong again but ae realy a¢ another level of strength. And you forget about your fm. You can’t just be thinking about making {your film, you see. What you ate doing is creating 2 place in which ‘rue emotion and true personal memory is being expressed. (RW) ‘The only time that new Latin American immigrants sce dealing with white people ina city like New York i in a subservient or hos tile or dominant group relationship. You're the INS, you're a boss, you're a policeofticer, a social worker snd you've gota beet with them Thad to overcome that not once, but with every person. Ie part of why it took along time to make the film. You eannot make film ike this without the complete trust of the people who are in it, Not only do they have to accept you enough to cook dinner and have vou go °0 their children’s baptism, but then they have to go beyond another fault line — to ge in front of a camera, Avery big pat of my expert cence directing the film was to understand what that meant. Por sweat. shop workers to come out of the sweatshop and into the light and stand in front of a camera required them to cross many, many lines. 1 don’t think anyone would make a film like that unless they feel 3 strong desire to doit. In addition to the normal struggles of lmmak Ing — of getting fonding, of getting supported making it through, ge. ting the film in the ean — here the obstacles are in every street, every hhome, every person you meet, (C) ‘Writers have apolitical responsibility to recognize that their work Is going to have consequences. And I wanted feedback frorn the peo ple whose lives were going tobe most affected by the story, so would present the stores to them in outline form. The garment workers all fee that [the seamstress inthe story] would turn to God for help, £0 azzepted it; I may not pray, but they all would, So I interviewed men4nd women about their prayers and where they pray —on the subway, in the elevators, waiting for buses. And inthe film, the woman prot fon the subway, This kind of collaboration has been the driving fare for each of the stories. (EM) ‘And I rally want to reject the idea of the director as this iconic figure that sits in a chair and tell everyone what to-do, caune it an {te and it’s damaging to have that image, Most of the work you ds 's just hard work and draining and you carry a heavy burden because the consequences of your work are going tobe great, and you have be open to changing and to discovering you'e wrong. {RW} 3. The People of La Ciudad For every immigrant tha participated in this film, the decision to be involved was very, very complex. They had to put aside the feo that is extremely prevalent in undocumented communities and say “> going todo it. 'm going to stand infront ofthe camera, vase, f the consequences." The motivation was 40 deep that the question ofthe wage was justa practical issue. Bat the des thet dominates the {immigrant expeience in this (country is thet you} wll be ineatons You leave your home, you make this incredibly long journey yon come fo.» border, and when you cross that border you leave one ile behind. You become undocumented. You have no identity, You some 1 the big cities or go to the ranches or wark in the back of the hotle 4 Las Vegas. You will remain invisible.” That's the unwritten rule of the immigration story today. And the making of La Ciudad was) premised on, *You'l be visible. Youll stand in font of the cane ith slight on your fae an tell us exactly what you're ging thragh Jand what you're feeling.” So how did we each an agreement about salary? T told the person ‘organizing the day laborers. "You decide what is aceptableand jne coh ‘me. And it’s my problem to go and find it. But remember, ee nego Hollywood studio — at that point lonly had a small grant —~ and the ‘money Ipay Lam going to earn by working nights on Wall Stat, Also, this film i to express to the outside world what you've going ihren, In other words, i's « committment you're making, i's not ust a Be for hire. That's all Task you to consider.” They came back with arate of §75 a day for the leads, a litle bit Detter than the best rate they get on the stieet. Supporting scien, would be given a hot meal. Thats what we had with “Brickes by ake time we got to "Seamstress," the daily rte, I think was $100 doy 168 nnn meee rE forthe leads and the extias worked for fee. [Ft was Sunday, ll we did was provide subway tokens. It was Saturday and they were losing days work, they were given $30 In other words it was policy utson about what was tghred ro make the puepaten of the workers possible. And ano time did Y encounters person who wan to get ich, (RD) (shghty eeordered) Ad the risks that they took -T ever fl that was putting them fn isk tobe in the lm. But from thes point of view fs diferent ‘Many of them were ony inthe United Sates for afew years by the time I started working with them — some even less The very sc of sepping outside of thelr day-to-day routine and talking to me and meting with usin the churches o the theaters where we were sod slowly workshopping t the point where they were the center of Extention fors camera cow of 0 OF 50 pesple repented huge Botental isk And why then di they do it The on explanation ss thatthe film io very, very important to them. CR) Every person actively inveved in malng te lm was profoundly empowered. It dit chang the act that they wee sil working on the sroets orn the garment shops and thatthe status wes still endo‘mented. What did change was their sense of who they were in this ‘any. sy ts ets tay tonal er an one Spas are break the stranglehold of fear and partcpate in the film, to directly tlle about things they kept inside themselves, was very empowering. (RP) "The metaphor we used when we made "Bricks," was that without mortar, bricks have no value, they have no purpose, you ean do noth jing. with them. You need cement in order to build things. And the lsame is true of people, and in this ese of the immigrants arriving in [New York City. They have let their cement behind. When you leve |your village and you come to New York City and yo find yourself on street corner with people from eleven diferent countries, where is fhe cement that you had! You have to find or create new mortar haut I, ehete wil be no future. "The men at the beginning of La Ciudad are not able to find that mortar, and the idea at the end of the film, in the final story “Seamstress,” is that the women begin to. They take the very fist step. When they stop working its @ kind of mostar. And the same story that we're talking about regarding the Latino community is behind the ides of «white culture and a white community. Everyone that has Buropean roots has a history of warfare — the Scots, the Irish, the English, the Dutch the French, the Italians. How i it that we're all now supposed to be somehow the same? I know among Mexicas filmmakers there's often tak about telling the story of what if the roles were completely reversed between the U.S. and Mexico, and ‘making the details very, very accurate to make i believable, So like the Grapes of Wrath, American families are all having to pack up thet belongings and trying to get t0 Mexico to find work, and having to cross the river at night. So a New Yorker finds himself a street cor. ner in Cuernavaca, Mexico standing beside a guy from Wisconsin, half «dozen people from Washington State, some out of work auto work: es from Arizona, and a couple of guys from Long Island. And they hhave nothing in common and may even want t0 Kill each other, but they're treated exactly the same way. Ive a relly interesting premise, "The term “community” andthe notion of “community” isa di seul ane and problematic one Stnwhas sn syaye Bese ftom_the gutsde,« commun is one sppestenes, and from the ide, « community Ras one appearance, and from the inside hes re WIE the Late Accs Say, spa SEG GHG Meio a Laon community beduee Ws hanging 20 rapidly. The population of Latin Amerians in New York {sgrowing exponentially, and new commanitie are arriving that have zo historical slationsip with those that are alteady here. That i, 170 there's no reason to assume that Peruvians or indigenous commur- ties ftom Ecuador have a eationship with the Dominican commu ty thats already in New York, or any connection with the Puerto ‘Ricans in New York, or any reason to be involved with the Mexicans ‘rom Puebla, Fach group of new arrivals finds themselves living beside and working beside people fom other parts ofLatin America that they hhave very litte in common with historically. They've never spoken before, never met before, but in the eyes of Nev York City, inthe eves ff the bosses for whom they work, in the eyes of anyone driving by them on the street, they are considerd tobe of «kind. But as soon a8 ‘You begin to talk with them, you find out that on one corner you have ‘Mexicans, on another corner you have Gustemalans, on another cor thet you have Eevodorans, and they in fct are keping to themselves. ‘They keep to themselves until the truck pulls up, and then they all, fun and push and shave and what happens is that the contractor Chooses few men from each group, and so these men who would just fs soon have kept to themselves find that they have to deal with each fther and they have to work togethet.So.capital brings tngether and helps to form this Latino community. (AELLA) ena m