{"id":274175,"date":"2020-10-07T13:42:30","date_gmt":"2020-10-07T18:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conexionflorida.com\/?p=274175"},"modified":"2024-07-24T13:53:49","modified_gmt":"2024-07-24T18:53:49","slug":"spotlight-on-filmmaker-lizette-barrera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conexionflorida.com\/es\/spotlight-on-filmmaker-lizette-barrera\/","title":{"rendered":"SPOTLIGHT ON FILMMAKER LIZETTE BARRERA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Director. Producer. Camera Operator. Lizette Barrera has taken on many roles in her pursuit of a filmmaking career; her credits span the HBO-distributed Mosca (Fly) to assisting with Deep in the Heart of Texas: Dave Chappelle Live at Austin City Limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I first met her, she was working as an Assistant Director (AD) on an independent feature in East Texas and she was one off the hardest working people on the set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, after three weeks of filming, she deserves a break. So, I talk to her while she digs into a tub of Mad Mike\u2019s premium ice cream. Delicious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I enjoyed being 2nd<\/sup> AD,\u2019 Barrerra says, \u2018I liked the organizational [aspect].\u2019  But her main focus is directing; by assuming other jobs, she can find what they entail. \u2018I feel more comfortable doing a specific role if I know what the other roles are about. I had to take other roles so I could become a better director.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Barrera\u2019s online blurb describes her as, \u2018a Chicana filmmaker based in Dallas\/Ft. Worth,\u2019 she identifies as a filmmaker first and foremost. \u2018I consider myself a Chicana. I dropped the label in my bio because I wanted to be just a filmmaker, who happens to be a Chicana and who happens to make films about Chicanos. My activism is through my writing, the stories I decide to put on screen. I want to show diversity, what a Chicano looks like, what a Mexican looks like.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barrera\u2019s short films have correspondingly short titles (Rubies, iCome!), and at first glance they seem simple. But they explore the complex themes of family, relationships and sense of place. \u2018Mosca was a common term I heard when I was a kid,\u2019 says Barrera, as in, \u2018get that fly out of the kitchen.\u2019 Barrera combined that phrase with collective stories she\u2019d heard from friends to create the fictional account of a girl\u2019s relationship with her cousin, to the consternation of the girl\u2019s mother..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mosca made its mark on over a dozen film festivals, winning \u201cBest Texas Film\u201d at the Austin Under the Stars Film Festival 2018 and the “Filmmakers to Watch” award at the Women in Texas Film Festival 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I would hope to bring more filmmaking to Texas,\u2019 says Barrera, who lives in Arlington. Her parents are half an hour away in Lewisville. \u2018I am very blessed because they are super supportive. They challenge me, probably more than I want!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The filmmaker credits her storytelling father as a big influence on her career. One of the key moments she recalls is her father\u2019s comparison of Mexico and the USA. \u2018We were leaving Mexico; the sun hadn\u2019t risen yet and you could see the defined look of Mexico.\u2019 Her father explained how they were lucky to be born on the US side and how they were one degree from being born on the other end.  \u2018He made me value my one degree of separation, having access to a different education. He really helped move my outlook.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Barrera\u2019s next challenge is to turn her short film Chicle (Gum) into a feature, with a $5000 development grant from the Austin Film Society. \u2018It\u2019s about family, death and love,\u2019 she says. \u2018We can\u2019t choose our families, who we come into this world with.\u2019 But we can choose to love them \u2013 a choice Barrera examines, among many other important ideas, in her fascinating films.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Director. Producer. Camera Operator. Lizette Barrera has taken on many roles in her pursuit of a filmmaking career; her credits span the HBO-distributed Mosca (Fly) to assisting with Deep in the Heart of Texas: Dave Chappelle Live at Austin City Limits. When I first met her, she was working as an Assistant Director (AD) on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":273884,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[682],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-274175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-film"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexionflorida.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexionflorida.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexionflorida.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionflorida.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionflorida.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/conexionflorida.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274175\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexionflorida.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionflorida.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionflorida.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274175"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionflorida.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=274175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}