Melissa Silvestri

Civil Rights Smorgasbord: Swede Docu Helmer Examines U.S History

"Natalia Almada's chilling look at what happens when criminal drug lords are deified even in death, while their victims are completely forgotten might be wordless, but speks volumes about a problem that is unlikely to go away."

Shooting Spree: Almada Documents Open Air and Closed Doors of War Zone

Jesus Henry Christ is based off my short film of the same title that I made while at Columbia University’s graduate film program. As the short film did well, producers requested the feature version. So, I took the title and the main character, Henry James Herman, a ten year-old with a photographic memory, and placed him in an entirely different context.

It was in the script. I mean, with her dresses, Xavier really wanted something 1950s/1960s, because from that, he wanted to mix contemporary references. Because love has no age. Even as generations change, love is the same. It was a way to attribute to older generations who felt the same way about love.