Meet Nicole Chi, One of the 5 Winners of the 6th Annual Focus Features & JetBlue Student Short Film Showcase

The Gotham Film & Media Institute announced that Nicole Chi’s Los Mosquitos is one of five works chosen by a special jury of filmmakers, curators, and critics for the Focus Features & JetBlue Student Short Film Showcase. Created as Chi’s MFA thesis film for The University of Texas at Austin, Los Mosquitos was selected from a pool of projects from a wide range of graduate film programs.

In Los Mosquitos, Aby (Abigail Hernandez), a 15-year-old Honduran teen, and her younger cousin, Nata (Natalia Rodríguez), who has just arrived in the US, forge new bonds and redefine the concept of family for each other.

We asked Chi to tell us a little about the inspiration for her film, the artists who influenced her, and her plans for the future.

Follow her on Instagram @nicolechiii and learn more about her work at www.nicolechifilm.com.

Where did the idea for Los Mosquitos come from?

Los Mosquitos was born from the interactions and relationships I had with people from the Honduran community in Austin, Texas. I had done a previous project with a domestic workers’ and nannies' organization and met many wonderful women who became my friends. Since I’m from Costa Rica, we have lots in common. After spending a lot of time with them, I became curious about the different stages of assimilation when you’re no longer in your home country and how people cope with that. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, so I turned it into a formal process of letting them know I wanted to make a short film, and then began to interview them and spent time observing their family gatherings. It was the process of getting to know other people that led me to make the film.

How did you find your cast?

The whole cast is composed of natural actresses. We made a general casting call within the wide Latinx community and professional actresses based in Texas. I had met the actresses who ultimately played the roles when I was doing my research. In my heart, I always wanted them to be the characters, but I honestly wasn’t sure I would be able to direct three natural actresses at the same time and maintain a process that was respectful of their experiences. As we progressed into different stages of casting, my producers and I realized I had basically ended up creating an acting workshop for the three of them. I remember when we had a chemistry read with the three of them mixed in with professional actresses, and it was then that I saw how free they felt playing these fictional characters. They weren’t nervous, and it hit me that if we considered who they are and where they come from and how they understood what we were trying to make, the whole thing would work out.

What in the final film most captures what you saw in your mind when you first imagined the story?

The conversation the girls have at the end of the film. I didn’t write the film knowing the end from the get-go, but I always had in mind how I would like the film to feel towards the end. I knew it had to be a bitter but tender final moment, that would lead us to try to imagine their lives after the film is over. A life that would continue to be harsh, but not lonely anymore.

Your film involves a child and a teenager. What was it like working with young actors?

I was so nervous about it, but not because they are a child and a teenager. It was because they were natural actresses, and I wanted to be respectful of the ways in which this fictional story echoes parts of their lived experience or of people they know. I felt a big responsibility. I wanted them to have a good experience from beginning to end. I was particularly worried about how intimidating it can be to be on a set with lots of strangers.

We had a lot of considerations, not only because they’re minors, but because they are from a vulnerable community. We made sure the majority of the people on set were Spanish speakers. We progressively started bringing our key crew to the rehearsals, and I started introducing the actresses to what happens on a set, and learning from them during different acting exercises, what they were comfortable doing and expressing. By the time we got to the actual set, they were incredibly comfortable. They would walk in with such confidence, saying hi to everyone like they were their pals and having a good time. We cast them because they were extraordinary. Aby and Nata—but also Magda (Magdalena Álvarez)—are just so smart. I never gave them lines to learn. I just reminded them of the situation we had previously rehearsed. It was magical to work like that because of how open they were to the crazy process.

What was the biggest lesson learned working on Los Mosquitos?

I really cherish my producers, Fumiya Hayakawa and Edna Diaz, for working with me to make it happen. The big lesson that I learned in making Los Mosquitos was to focus on the process of making the film and the people involved in it. Putting all my effort in caring for my cast and crew and in communicating and listening to my collaborators meant that I could very proudly say we had a great process, were thoughtful, and were kind to each other. I have come to realize that these are precious (but unfortunately sometimes rare considerations), but these are the things that matter to me because you can’t control anything else besides that when you make a film.

As an emerging filmmaker, who are your influences?

I find Lucia Berlin’s writing, in particular, the short stories contained in A Manual for Cleaning Women, to be witty, tender but also absolutely devastating. I really love her work and keep going back to it. I really admire the work of directors like Alice Rohrwacher, Hirokazu Koreeda, Sean Baker, and Maite Alberdi. I love their films, but I also find it inspiring to hear about their processes or imagine what it took to make their films. They’re all so different from each other, but whether their film is funny, sad, or mellow, I find an overall sense of hopefulness in all of them. I think it’s good to hold on to that feeling.

What was the first film you saw that made you want to be a filmmaker?

It was a Japanese film I watched when I was in high school called Okuribito (Departures). I caught it randomly on cable TV. Then, every week, I went to the local DVD rental store to see when they would have it so I could watch it again. When they finally did, I rented it a few times and just continued to re-watch it. The film is about a man who changes his dream of being a cellist to something totally different, that of being a mortician. I had had a big loss that year, and it was the first time that I found consolation in a very vivid way. It wasn’t so much that the film made me cry, but that with tears in my eyes, I laughed as well. There was something magical in the film that stirred a lot of emotion in me. It would be beautiful if I could create something that had such an effect on someone, even just one person.

Are you working on a feature film?

I’m working on my first narrative film, EL SOL DE ORO. It’s set in my home country, Costa Rica. It’s about a second-generation Chinese-Costa Rican girl who investigates with a social worker the case of a mysterious Asian girl who appeared out of nowhere in their hometown. Her involvement in the case unleashes discoveries about her own mother’s past and a lie she has been keeping. It will have elements of magic realism and detective fiction. At its core, the film is about the moment the relationship with our parents evolves.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.