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Patricia Riggen Crosses Borders
(Page 3)
MM: When you were at Columbia studying film, did you find that you were a minority—both as a woman and as a Mexican?
PR: On the contrary. I think that Columbia is a place where so many cultures collide. I had classmates from every country—it was great. I think that it really helped me a lot as a woman, moving here, because school really democratizes talent and I was the same as my classmates. The important thing was who was doing a good exercise. So that is where I started to really develop the self-esteem to allow me to believe that I could actually be a director.
MM: What do you want this film to say about the issue of immigration in this country? Did you have an agenda?
PR: No, not at all. In fact, on the other hand, I was very hesitant to make a movie about a subject that nobody wanted to hear about three years ago. Suddenly immigration has become a very hot topic and now everybody wants to say something about the subject matter. And it was never about that. Fortunately, I guess, it is a timely subject and maybe more people will be interested in watching my movie as a result. But I am glad that I always stayed on the human side of things and never tried to convince anybody of anything. Just show what I know.
MM: A lot of the songs featured in the film provide commentary on immigrants views on immigration in this country, especially Kinky’s “Superman,” which even features the line “even Superman was an illegal alien.” Did you intentially use the songs in the film to deliver a kind of message?
PR: Yes, absolutely, because I am telling the story from their point of view and of course, they hear radio shows that make fun of politicians, they listen to music that talks about their tragedy, but I think that what I also made sure to show was the light way in which they see things. They can make fun of themselves and laugh about themselves and make jokes about that situation. That is a very Latin characteristic and I wanted to show it.
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- Comment by anatoliy on 4/22/08 at 6:14 am
:)
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