Mansfield native David Redmon had just finished making the documentary Mardi Gras: Made in China when he decided to visit one of his favorite countries, Mexico. On a previous trip to Reynosa, he had met a woman who made designer bags on her dirt floor, and he and his filmmaking partner, Ashley Sabin, thought she might be a good subject for a doc.
The woman had left, as had the bags. But Mr. Redmon and Ms. Sabin soon met a young couple, Cecy and Camillo. And a new project, Intimidad , was born.
It's a disarmingly simple story: Man, woman and baby strive for a variation of the American Dream in Reynosa. They endure hardships, including a brief split, and soldier on. Intimidad is marked by a palpable sense of trust between filmmakers and subjects.
Carnivalesque Films
Camillo Ramirez
It's also marked by a refusal to impose any ideology upon the characters and their struggles.
"We want to make films about people who exist within these larger social structures that seem intangible," says Mr. Redmon by phone. "We get to meet people on a very personal level. We don't have a thesis statement, and we don't have a diatribe to make. We want to go in asking questions and then listen to what the characters are doing and saying. We don't want to pound people over the head with our ideological point of view."
Intimidad doesn't offer a lot of answers. It prefers to ask questions. And it's not afraid to let them linger.
DETAILS: Intimidad plays at 8 tonight and 10 p.m. Wednesday at the Angelika, and at 1:15 p.m. Friday at the Magnolia.
Today at AFI
•Snow Angels – Richardson's David Gordon Green presents his drama of lives in crisis, starring Sam Rockwell and Kate Beckinsale. 7:30 p.m., NorthPark
•Slingshot Hip Hop – Documentary on hip-hop and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 5:15 p.m., Angelika
•Captain Abu Raed – Tale of an airport janitor with ample imagination is billed as the first independent film from Jordan. 4:30 p.m., NorthPark
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