SO LONG.

The itineraries of the fish woman

!
After working for years in the US, Renata returns to Veracruz. But it seems as
she never left, not even her family had noticed her absence. So, she imagines
that she is Natalia who is waiting for her husband who migrated North and
havent come back yet. As Renata attempts to leave again, Natalia refuses the
man who has arrived from the North and her daughters take as their father.
The two women move in an intermediary space which can be understood as
their version of the border in the context of the masculine migration to the
other side.

!
!

!
!

The film works as a map of the territory the two women inhabit, and reveals
how landscape embodies the characters perceptions and emotions. To reveal
the psychological texture of their territory, the film is split into two screens.
Thus, the original film has ramifications that work as comments of the main
character, Renata, about the film where she was the protagonist; she
contextualizes the edited images of the film by adding new images, re-editing,
describing, adding text and commenting. The second film acts as the internal
voice of the film

!
!



!
I read in a news article that she read in a regional Mexican newspaper
about 300 migrants who were going back to their community in Veracruz
after having worked for years in the United States, I wondered how the
same number of women who stayed dealt with migration.
When I went to Comapa, I realized that the female experience of
migration is complex especially when the migrant returns. Thus, the
woman who had been relegated to a position of waiting, gains a
protagonist role as she reformulates the locus of reunion and the family
roles. Her fictional life based on telephone calls also crosses the border.



!
!
!
So Long is an exploration of the fragmented presence of
the woman as it is built in the context of migration. As her
everyday context is dislocated, the woman lives in a border
which she cant leave, and she parts once and again even
though she is parted. How is this woman who is created in
the distance?







!!

The film is an architecture of images where Renata places herself inside.

Renatas condition is loneliness.

If shes away, shes absent.

If shes in, shes absent.
There is no place for her.
In her life.

!
She is travelling.
!



!!
!

As in the US, Renata cant enter her neighborhood, her family

no matter how many times she tries, she is left bouncing in the
border. Meanwhile, Natalia waits, and hates things that move.

!
!
!!
!
!



!
!
!
!
!



!
!
!
!



!
!
!
!
!





!
!
Mexican award-winning actress Alicia Laguna played both Renata and
Natalia and Salatiel Hernndez, an actor from Veracruz, the rest of the
cast, including Alfonso Nava and Daniela Vargas who played Uscanga
and Mariana, are non-actors who have lived the perils of migration.
Alejandro Coronado was the director of photography and Rafael Santamara
was the producer. Sofi Tllez, Daniela Tiburcio and Rubn Lpez complete the
production crew. The film was produced by Broken Doll Films and shot in the
Port of Veracruz, on the Gulf of Mexico. It was funded by FONCA, the Mexican
fund for the arts and culture, IMCINE, the Mexican Institute of Cinematography,
National Geographic and it was post produced at CCC, Cinematographic
Training Centre.



!
!
Technical Information
Film format: HD, Exhibition format: Blue Ray
Location: Port of Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico
Length: 68 minutes





Maria Berns

is a filmmaker and writer. Originally from

Argentina, she did graduate studies in Mexico and United States in

sociology, film and literary creation, which she combines in her fictional
and documentary works. Her short films have been shown at festivals in
the United States and Europe including the Dresden Film Festival and the
Berlin Film Festival. Her awards include the prestigious Kodak Award for
her film The Bride. She was a film professor at Rochester Institute of
Technology and at Istanbul Bilgi University. was a scriptwriter for Channel
television 11 in Mexico, for Telemundo and Teleset in Colombia. In 2008
and 2009, she served as the Coordinator of Mexico correspondents for
Notimex. With the support of IVEC, she completed the photographic
project Visit as Art in the Port of Veracruz where she shot So Long.

Proposal of So Long
Stemming from the feature length film So Long, I have created a second film
that is a replication where the protagonist contextualizes the edited images of
the film by adding new images, re-editing, and commenting.
Sections of the exhibition
1- Projection of the film So Long.
It consists in the simultaneous projection of the main feature and the twin film.
It is the opening event and it can be rescheduled other times along the
exhibition period.
2- Multiple projection with two monitors to present the feature So Long and its
twin film.
3- Digital book.
It is the chronicle of the pre-production, production and post of the film. It will
be exhibited in a separate monitor.
4- Script writing workshop, writing from the framing and writing for multiple
screens

Space requirements
Two separate spaces are needed.

Museum ad technical requirements

- Two monitors for the central exhibition piece
- Two projectors for the film and its twin. Sound equipment.
- One computer with monitor for the digital book.

!
!

Already exhibited at
- Noida International Film Festival, 2015. Premio a la mejor edicin
- Centro Cultural de Espaa MX, mayo 2015 en el marco del Programa de
Gnero, medios de comunicacin, audiovisuales y nuevas tecnologas.

!
Confirmed Galleries
- Casa Principal. IVEC, Puerto de Veracruz, March 2015
- Rubin Gallery, University of Texas, El Paso, Texas.
- Cine Tonal, Ciudad de Mxico, February, 2015.

!
!
!
!
!
!



!
Contact information:

mariaberns@gmail.com
52 1 55 2883 6975
Link to the film: http://youtu.be/Xh3JJDVsDSw

!
!

Link to the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOvVu39OOW0