Borealis director and writer Heixan and actress, co-writer and producer Gretza Merced Cruz. Photo Credit: Heixan & Gretza Merced Cruz, Sereno Film Co.
Arturo Hilario
El Observador
What would you fight to remember?
Borealis is a film from Puerto Rico that tells the story of a civilization collapsing due to a solar flare which wipes out the memories of every human on Earth, and follows the perspectives of a group of survivors on the island.
As Puerto Rico is currently celebrating 130 years of film history on the island, a film like Borealis highlights the advancements of the medium in the region as well as the scrappiness of trying to get an independent film made so far way from Hollywood.
Filmed on the island with a 100% Puerto Rican crew, Borealis is having its US Premiere on Friday March 13 at the Hammer Theatre in San Jose as part of this year’s Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival. It will screen twice more after the premiere, on March 18 and March 22.
Having been screened to Spanish speaking audiences at the Curtas Festival do Imaxinario in Spain and the Festival Horror en las Montañas in Mexico, Cinequest provides North American audiences with their first opportunity to see the Boricua thriller. The film will make its home debut next month on April 16.
Recently I had the opportunity to speak to the creative minds behind the project, director, executive producer and screenwriter Heixan, and cowriter, lead actress and producer Gretza Merced Cruz. Despite tight deadlines and even tighter budgets, they collaborated to bring Heixan’s original idea and flesh out a captivating story that has sci-fi and thriller elements but keeps its lens focused on the humanity at its core.
Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and how you became interested in the arts and filmmaking?
Heixan
I guess since I was very little, I always drew or sculpted in clay. I was always kind of the artistic kid in school. So I always knew I wanted to do something related to art, but I never considered an actual career until I flunked my first university. I didn’t know what to do. And suddenly, I wanted to do this. “Let’s give it a try.” And so I started doing my own projects, and little by little, I’m suddenly a DP. And then after a few years, then I finally got the chance to make my own movies.
Gretza
I always liked arts, and my mother was very fond of doing it. We were always immersed in it, even though we were centered in our academic education. When I started the university, I started on biology first, and then I discovered I wanted to keep pursuing the dream of being an artist. I switched concentrations and ended up being an actress.
But I really love science, so I always wanted to look for an opportunity to mix the both of them. When I met Heixan and his view of arts and his interest about science fiction and fantasy and everything, I saw an opportunity to explore those themes that we like. We started writing together a little bit ago with one of our feature films that is not finished yet. It’s called Era del Silencio or Age of Silence.
We started discovering there that we might be good at writing these kinds of stories from Puerto Rico that have plenty of magical realism and stories that can be used as a fantasy to explore more about our cinema. We ended up writing more and wanting to do more. Once we have the opportunity with the Department of Development here in the island, we just wanted to keep doing things, so we submitted.
We ended up making Borealis, and it’s a cool way to explore those themes with science and writing and immersing ourselves in this new world that we are creating for the audience and also for ourselves, so we can survive this weird world that we are living in right now.
What were your influences or inspirations from the world of cinema or media?
Heixan
I think I’ve been influenced through all the fantasy movies I watched during my growing up in the ’80s. I remember, or it seems to me like there were a lot more fantasies and dark fantasies during my growing up as a kid. So I grew up surrounded and fascinated by fantasy and the ability to dream stuff and dream big. And then I just stayed a dreamer, and now I’m getting older and I’m still a dreamer. So that’s pretty much it. I just stayed that little kid fascinated by fantasy.
And now, as you have actually accomplished the dream of making a film, how would that younger version of yourself feel?
Heixan
Well, I mean, it’s like, “Finally! Geeze, you took so long.” It’s very rewarding to finally be able to make something from my imagination, which is what you always dreamed of doing. I have no words, I guess. It’s just very rewarding. I’d finally be able to make my movie and having people watching it and some people liking it. So that’s the cherry on top, I guess.
Could you touch on the story of Borealis and inspiration for writing the story?
Heixan
I’ve always been fascinated by science, [considered myself] like a science geek. I say geek, not nerd, because I’m not a connoisseur. I don’t know, just layman science type of interest. But I love the idea of the coronal mass ejections of the sun. And we’ve seen auroras here on Earth. But they are mostly limited to the Poles, and I’m in the Caribbean; I live in Puerto Rico.
So only in very extreme occasions, we may get some down here. It happened a couple of years ago. Back in the 19th century, the Carrington Event really swept through the whole planet. So, I followed those kinds of things. And one day, I remember watching the news and all the reports were very apocalyptic, “Oh, my God, everything is going to end because of these solar storms.”
And I said, “That sounds like a great movie premise. What happens if that actually happens? And hard drives get deleted, and the whole digital world collapses, that sounds fantastic.” But then, as we were developing the story, we thought, “But how do we make it more human?”
Our fascination of deconstructing society to the most basic parts and playing around with those parts, it’s a fascination of mine. So, we extended that effect on electronics to, “How about people, too?” Let’s make people suddenly forget who they are, and let’s see what happens with people in a society from scratch.
Gretza, how did you get involved and what attracted you to this project and this story?
Gretza
Well, I like the possibility to explore the human mind and also the behavior. So when Heixan brought this premise to me, I was really interested in those themes and how can we make the characters a little bit more human because he had an idea and he wrote this first draft, and it was a little… It was weird because the characters didn’t communicate naturally.
Then I saw a way to get in into them as, I don’t know, as an observer from the outside. How can I develop characters that can be perceived as part of those things in society that makes us think that we’re supposed to behave or be the way that we’re supposed to be.
And those were the ideas and the themes that brought my attention to the project and the possibility that I can bring something to the table. This was still an idea of Heixan in the beginning, and I collaborated to develop it, help the dialogue of the characters to feel more as they’re supposed to be feeling by the characters that are talking.
“It wasn’t just making a film, at least not for me. It was about expanding what Puerto Rican cinema can look like and hearing all those different voices.”
– Gretza Merced Cruz, actress, co-writer and producer for Borealis
Heixan
Your actor’s perspective could give it more nuance and better depth to the characters.
Gretza
Thank you for that. I also want to highlight the thing that I respect the work of my colleagues. This wasn’t just my project. I was a collaborator on it. I wanted to respect the view of the director, also the creative mind of Heixan. It was a little bit fun to get into his mind and see what he was seeing and put some of my view in it. But It was a learning experience for me to see the ideas and the mind of another person while writing a story.
I wanted to highlight that because I don’t know if some people co-write scripts have this experience also. I wanted to be clear that for me, it was very important that the idea, his idea, it was maintained all over the story, even though I was collaborating into this script and dialogs and characters.
I wanted to ask about the filming process. What was it like setting a sci-fi film in in Puerto Rico? Because if you look at the history of cinema, I bet there’s very few films that are sci-fi thrillers that are set in Puerto Rico.
Heixan
At least my approach is like, this is not a hard sci-fi, so we just add the sci-fi element on top of what there is. So, we used the city as raw as it is. We were able to just give it a twist through the characters, so we could maintain the contemporary style and look of the city and all its grittiness and dirtiness.
What city was it filmed in?
Heixan
Rio Piedras, which is a little like a smaller area of town within San Juan. I live in Rio Piedras, so this is my neighborhood, where I just walk out and walk through sets. [laughs]
Gretza
I was hearing Heixan talking about Rio Piedras, but we also filmed in Bayamón. And here in Puerto Rico, we have an infrastructure problem where we have plenty of abandoned places. So, we use that in our favor because creating a sci-fi film in Puerto Rico, it was challenging and also deeply empowering to know that it’s not a genre that is commonly produced in the island. In many ways, we were building a path for others to walk in. So, there wasn’t a clear blueprint. Even though we have references, I think we also helped that path with Borealis.
We also have to rely pretty much on our creativity and collaboration. Also, a strong belief in the story, and that helped us a lot with our crew because everyone also believes in this story. So, they were very protective of the products and the project and the people working in it.
We stretch our resources into innovation and trust that the Puerto Rican talent is really capable to tell a bold, general, driven stories. I think if that is a good inspiration for all of us and for our people in the island, we are so in it.
It wasn’t just making a film, at least not for me. It was about expanding what Puerto Rican cinema can look like and hearing all those different voices.
Was the entire crew Puerto Rican?
Yeah, we have approximately 180 people working in our film, and everyone was Puerto Rican. And we also impact in other ways, like the economy. That’s why this is very important for us to create national cinema because we expanded the use of our resources and also the talent, and not only inside the crew or in front of the land, but also in hospitality and food.
Those artists working in art, also the makeup artist and the fashion industry. We are a very bold and complex industry that help move economy in very different and cool ways.
For audiences here in the mainland, maybe the last thing that they really have heard about in the news of Puerto Rico is the Super Bowl show and Bad Bunny and all the conversations surrounding that cultural exploration. So I’m wondering what it feels like to bring another viewpoint and cultural piece of media from Puerto Rico and what that might entail for people watching the film?
Heixan
I think the movie is pretty universal. I think you can set it up anywhere. This movie could have been in any city in the world. The idea that the memories are gone, nobody remembers anything, also deconstructs identity, like national identity. So, it’s deconstructed down to the most basic human level. So, we can apply it to anywhere, I think.
It is set in Puerto Rico, so we’ll definitely feel the pride of, “Hey, look, I know that street. I know that place.” I know the people are very Puerto Rican behavior-wise because that part of the character didn’t go away in the movie. So beyond just being there, just being there as an existent, there’s nothing beyond that that says Puerto Rico. So, it is universal plot and drama.
I think something that happens to me is every time I see videos or people from other countries, I see how similar we all are in the end. I suppose that’s what they take away from other people that don’t know Puerto Rico, it’s like, just like any other place.
Gretza
I think that it’s amazing that people recognize us with our music because music has carried our culture globally and that has been proven. But yeah, I think it feels validating being in a space like Cinequest when you come from a place that isn’t widely recognized necessarily for its films industry.
Every international selection felt like a door opening. It feels like our work and also our island is being seen beyond the stereotypes. I think those are things that we wanted to keep reeducating and keep pushing through. It’s not just about one film, it’s about feeling that maybe Puerto Rican cinema has a seat on the table, and that’s very important for us.
Going off of that, what do you guys both feel are the most important themes of this film for you that people may reflect on after seeing it, or that you hope that they do?
Heixan
I would say that ultimately your role in society and how you live through it ultimately can be your choice. Whatever your band, your group, your small group, be it family, political stance or culture, country, whatever. All those things are fabricated, and ultimately, we choose to follow and make it part of our identity. I like the idea that be conscious of it and choose wisely.
Gretza
I think deep inside, we hope audiences leave the film reflecting maybe on our identity and also memory that they think about what really makes them who they are and what they will fight to hold onto. To think about who will you be if the world didn’t tell you what you have to become? I don’t know, maybe that’s the core of our plot and the thing that we wanted people to feel or explore maybe while seeing the movie. We hope it reminds people that even in chaos, love and instinct can guide us in a cool way. Let’s hope so.
What are you feeling now that it’s finally having a stateside premiere?
Gretza
For me, I think it feels surreal. That expansion feels for me, it’s very emotional. It feels like our story is crossing borders, not just geographically, but in a cultural way. Language barrier also. It’s an accomplishment and very important for us also to believe that our stories have a place and also that can be seen in other places and maybe inspire others to feel that it’s possible to do. Seeing Borealis screening in the US feels like a proof that our stories are not small. I think every time we are picked to show our projects into new spaces and make us very happy with such inspiration and impulse to keep doing things.
Heixan
It feels like we’re doing something right.
Gretza
We also want to point that it was making Borealis, it was really rocky, because we had little time to create it, little time to write. We were on a schedule because it was a grant and we have to deliver everything on time, and it was a very short term to do so. We were doing this in a fast pace. We are hoping that people like it and the results of the production. I think if this can happen with this scenario, maybe if we have more resources and more time, we can make more wonderful things. We are up to it.
Heixan
That’s a funny fact about the process of Borealis. The first script written was for a first episode only because it was thought up as a series. But suddenly we get the opportunity for this grant to make the movie. So, we cramped everything in one single script for one feature. “Let’s make this work.”
Any final thoughts on the experience of creating Borealis?
Heixan
It’s besides exciting and scary at the same time, seeing my first movie seen by people that don’t speak the language and are constantly exposed to higher, bigger budget and bigger movies, be able to I appreciate it. It’s both exciting and scary at the same time.
Gretza
Yeah, I agree with him. If there is a one thing that we hope this project represents is that you don’t have to wait for permission to tell bold stories and to dare yourself to do it better and to keep learning. Sometimes the industry doesn’t expand until someone decides to expand it. I think for us, this step is very important. So thank you.
Follow any updates on the film on Instagram @borealisthemovie.
