AFI Fest Interview: Aarón Fernández director: Used Parts

Aarón Fernández makes him feature film debut in this tale of hope and betrayal set in Mexico City. A first film for lead actor Eduardo Granados, Used Parts sees the youth portraying one of the strongest depictions in recent memory. This contemporary film feels genuine with an exciting vision and sound giving audiences a different viewpoint of the immigration problem that has we have only seen from the US perspective.

Ivan, a teenager with a dream to move to the US with his uncle, takes up stealing auto parts in order to collect the money for cross over. The film also paints an accurate portrait of teenage life that we don't see so often on the screen.

I met the director Aarón Fernández and actor Eduardo Granados at the Arclight for the interview.

Yama Rahimi: Is this your first feature film?
Aarón Fernández: Yes it is and I'm happy with the way it turned out.

YR: What draw you to the story? We don't see many films about teenagers.
AF: It's a universal story about friendship and loyalty. About these two boys full of life who get sucked into the corrupt world of adults. It was set in Mexico but could happen anywhere.

YR: It was also a good story about immigration, specially that illegal immigration is a hot topic here but it's interesting to see it from the other perspective. What do Mexican people think about this topic?
AF: Yes it's a hot topic in Mexico as well. It affects everybody because almost everybody has or knows someone who lives in the US. I think it's global phenomenon. There's no country that's not affected by it. We are living in a new age of diaspora. It's something that nobody can stop. The frontiers are being redrawn. So what shocks me is that the US was built by immigrants. They are in a dubious position. They receive immigrants  and has solidarity for them but on other hand there's a xenophobia, specially towards Mexicans because they are the most immigrants. It's complex problem and it's not the subject of my film.

YR: I met you first at the festival of 3Continentsin Nantes with this project three years ago. Tell me about the journey of the film. What happened in the three years?
AF: Well when we met in Nantes, we only had the first draft of the script and we were looking for funding. There we met the French co-producer who liked the project and then we got the support of Mexican Film Institute and Spanish co-producers. The financing got completed by the end of 2005 and we shot the film in spring of 2006 because that was the time we wanted to shoot the film.

YR: What was the budget of the film?
AF: That's a question I never answer but it was low budget film.

YR: What's next for you?
AF: Well we are working with the distrubution. It will released in Mexico in February and we already have a US distributor which is called 24 Frames and the film will be released in March or April and around that time it will be released in Europe.

YR: Did you ever consider to be a in a film?
Eduardo Granados: No. This was my first film. I didn't study or anything prior this film.

YR: Tell me about a film that you liked?
EG: Amorres Perros, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Broken Sky, Battle in Heaven and Bad Education.

YR: Do you want to continue acting?
EG: Yes I do. I'm studying acting at the University and want to have a career.