Three years ago, an armed young man entered Rob Primary School at UVALDE, Texas, 19 students were killed. favorable According to law enforcement officials, law enforcement officials The school was forbidden for more than an hour without approaching the shooter.
In the midst of the failure to work, she appealed to one mother – Angeli Rose Gomez – officers to take action or allow her to enter to obtain her two children and her nephew. She was arrested and handcuffed, but she eventually talked about the exit from arrest before running inside the school to seize children.
The videos on social media acquired the moments when Gomez brought her children and her nephew from school. Soon the field worker in Texas and a mother of two children, a hero in national and local leaflets for her courage.
The new documentary “UVALDE MOM” is followed after it has become Confessed at the national level – While examining the forces they play in the UVALDE community that allowed fire, in addition to the effects of such a tragedy.
“All I wanted on that day is for my children out of school alive, and this is what I got,” says Gomez at a pivotal moment in the movie. “I don’t want to invite a hero. I don’t want to look at the hero because the only job I did on that day was my mother.”
Anayansi Prado and “terrified” of what happened and felt motivated to make a movie about the event after seeing members of families affected on the TV screen.
“I saw that there were Latinists, they were Mexican Americans, that it was a border city, and that it was an agricultural agricultural city, which really resonated with me and with the societies that I have done in the cinema before,” Brado told the Times newspaper.
Brado began communicating with Vivald people shortly after the shooting, but he had not heard from anyone for more than two months because of the immersion of the media’s requests that each person receives in the city. The only person who answered her was Gomez.
Before the film was shown on Saturday at the Los Angeles Latini International Film Festival, Brado spoke with the Times about the process and the challenges of making her documentary.
This interview was released and shortened for clarity.
Was the idea always a long movie? Or were there talks about making it a short chain or a series?
I have always thought about it as an advantage because I really wanted to dive and understand Uvalde as a character. I wanted to understand the history of the criminal justice system, the educational system. I knew that I wanted to make something that would be longer instead of just a piece that was about an evangelist or something like that. A few people told me that this would make a big palace, but when I discovered more on Uvalde, I was like, “No, has its own history, just like a person.”
When it comes to the choice of an evangelist, was she the first and only person who responded to your communication?
I think the people in the city were saturated with media coverage, and it was a brief that was the one who returned to me. What was really interesting is that I learned on that first trip [to Uvalde] About her background and learned how the criminal justice system failed her. I saw a parallel there, how the regime failed in society on the day of the shooting and how this woman also failed individually. I wanted to play with these two stories, macro and personality. As soon as I learned who was, outside the mother who encountered the school, I was like, “I must tell the story of this woman.”
How did you get the balance of her personal things and the failure that occurred on a larger scale?
It reflects a lot of the way the movie is organized as my own experience as a movie director. It was a kind of surreal world, and these two worlds were continuing: what was happening to my evangelist, then what was happening outside with no accountability and cover -up. So I informed the way I wanted to structure the movie.
Regarding the personality, it was a journey to gain an evangelical confidence. At some point in the beginning, she was not sure that she wanted to participate in the movie, so she told her, “You don’t owe anything to me. I am strange, but all I ask is to give me an opportunity to gain your confidence.” It was like, “well”. From there, I opened, very quickly, we became close and bought me. I was very aware [of] Its legal past and even the way it is seen by some people. I also did not want Anjili to start as a victim and people feel sorry for her, but I still want to tell her story in a way that angered the regime for her failure.
What kind of conflicts have you tried to communicate with some city officials?
We used a lot of news [archives] To represent this part of the story. the [authorities] No interviews were held, they were holding press conferences. So access was limited, but also the majority of the time we were imagining, we were very low about production-because Angeli was under observation and there was revenge to speak to the media. We tried to keep it under the rolls we used to imagine, so many people did not know that [besides] Her family. Other people are clear in the city [were] Part of the movie, like her friend Tina and family members. Outside of that, it was very risky to allow others to know what was going on.
In the end I wanted to make [“Uvalde Mome”] Personal photo. I was very selective for the people we need completely to the interview. I am happy with Tina, who is an activist in the city, and I showed me, one of the survivors of the shooting and the school teacher, [plus] Anjili legal team. I felt that these were people we needed to tell a complete story. But we were unable to go out in the open in making a movie about it and teach people.
What kind of reception did you get from UVALDE people who watched the movie?
We had the first show in the south of the southwest, which was great. Many people came from Uvalde and talked about how, after about three years, many of these things are still ongoing. Every time the governor of the state Greg Abbott came on the screen, people were screaming, “losing!” He was really moving to get these tests.
As expected from people who were not an Angeli lover, there was some reaction. It is the same novel that you see in the movie “It is a criminal, incredible.” It is an open city. I just try to sympathize with people. Ultimately, Angeli’s story is the story of one person in Uvalde from many who need to continue to tell them. I hope that film makers, other journalists and other storytelling narrators will continue to tell the story there, especially with no closure and accountability. I am happy that the movie returns Uvalde to the main headlines in a way; This way we do not forget that.
Have you ever spent a long period of time in Texas before?
I visited Texas, but I haven’t done a project in Texas. Because I am strange, it was very important for me to rent a 100 % local Texas crew for this movie. I was completely in Texas, from PAS to our voice to our DPS. I also wanted to get a Mexican American crew from Texas in Texas so that they could guide me. We started production in September 2022 and the atmosphere was very tense.
This is a deeply rooted story in a Latin society and tension on the application of the law in UVALDE. How was it like dealing with this tension and how did you personally feel that when I went to Medina?
When I got to Uvalde, I saw that most of the Latin community were there for several generations. You may think of a town with this type of Mexican American history, the majority, that they have been established and represented, right? We were really supposed to see [how] These people still consider second -class citizens. Many of them are suppressed. Then you have people getting strength sites, but they whitening a white conservative agenda. So even those who are able to enter the positions of power are not inclined to society. They turn their back on him.
I heard from people that the history of neglect is what led to a response on that day in Robb Elementary. They are like, “Yes, this is what is happening in this aspect of the city. You are inviting the policemen, they do not come. Our schools are heading.” You really see contrast. This was a Mexican American society that was there for a long time. It is great how conservative white society, even if they were the smaller part of the population, can still bear strength.
