#also yes it is very important to me when any iteration of the turtles with long mask tails have them over their shoulder

[avidlylivid]

woe, Lee Nova propaganda be upon ye

love drawing turtles they're so fun

(please click for better quality it got crunched)

@ultimatebabygirlsupremebattle

ive been rewatching tmnt 2012 and i love this pose. mario impersonator

also here's the palette i made because neons. you guys wont believe what they do to my brain

[dysfunctional-doodle]

Just watched Mutant Mayhem, here are my thoughts!

Overall: Yes, very good I suggest everyone watch it when they can or I will break your knees :)

I’m going to end up rambling far too much unless I split this properly, so I’m going to break it down into sections starting from what I believe is most important in a movie.

This post is still going to be a mess ngl

Story: 8/10

The story is actually very good! It was paced very well and ended in a very touching way. No character interactions or plot beats felt forced or cliché, and no forced identity politics which is always a plus.

The action scenes - of course they were amazing. Paired with the stellar animation, each action scene was brilliantly directed and choreographed. The start shows the turtles’ origin story is similar to most of the iterations with its own unique factors - in this case the ooze was created by Baxter Stockman.

The conflict of the plot was well written, the final act was great and ends with a hopeful and satisfying ending (there is a mid credit scene that teases something big for the series though!).

If it’s any consolation, it’s also very friendly to new fans of TMNT - I went with someone who has not seen any TMNT media before and they really liked it and understood it easily.

Characters: 9/10

Needless to say, all the characters were very well done. Despite its run time and large cast, each one feels grounded with their own unique personality.

For starters: the four main boys! They were done brilliantly - Mikey being hopeful and optimistic whilst naturally being empathetic, Raph channeling chaotic good energy with his iconic rage personality not being over the top, Donnie being a geek in the best way possible, and Leo trying to be a good leader and anxious, always looking out for his brothers but not a complete teachers pet. All very likeable, and I can’t wait to see them in the series!

Splinter: probably the best since 2003! Openly caring of his sons and worries a great deal about how humans will perceive them. Has his own trauma from his experience with humans so he tries to protect his sons by isolating them completely, but eventually realises that his own view of humans should not affect his son’s happiness and lets them fulfil their dream of trying to be accepted by humans even if he will never like humanity himself. Peak character development, 10/10.

Villain/s: all of them felt fleshed out and I look forward to seeing them in the series! Posed their own genuine threats with varying levels of morals. Again, all were fleshed out quite well and played a role in the story.

April: honestly, she didn’t have too much in it compared to the others but does play a key role in the final act and the ending itself. An interesting iteration of April, curious to see more of her.

Animation: 10000000/10

It was brilliant. What else can I say? Though inspired by Spider-verse it is its own style which is amazing to look at. It thrives in action scenes and landscapes. Another groundbreaking style that I hope to see influence others.

Music: 8/10

It slaps. Almost all of them I will be playing for the next week or so. The soundtracks really set the mood beautifully, especially the sombre track. Paired with the animation - ugh - chefs kiss

Overall Rating: 8/10

I am usually very very harsh with films, so for me to rate anything above a seven is basically unheard of. Probably my favourite movie of 2023, and my favourite TMNT movie. 2003 only just beats it overall but that’s mostly because I’ve known it for longer - who knows, a few more rewatches and it might overtake.

[weirdlizard26]

ok im going try to write my initial thoughts on mutant mayhem, MASSIVE TMNTMM SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT obviously!! another note is that a lot of these arent final ofc, just my first reaction! i will def be on the lookout for a closer investigation of these points by people smarter than me, i just need to write these down. ok lets go

.

ill start with the exceptional positives :-) the animation was STUNNING and the fight scenes and chase sequences??????/ fuckin breathtaking!!! i think the dynamic btwn the turtles was rly fun too :-) and an interesting take on leo's whole leader situation! like that scene where the guys were surprised that hes on board with the hero plan,,, i also rly liked the little nods to other iterations, like when in the end raph said hes glad his brothers are the last thing hes gonna see before dying felt so similar to what 2014 raph said in a very similar situation and it was fun to notice hehe. also i know donnie having a purple hoodie is pretty generic but i like to think it was a callback to rise donnie :-) AND I CRIEDDDD WHEN THE HUMANS STARTED HELPING THEM OUT IN ANY WAY THEY COULD,,, THAT WAS SO SWEET AND I LOVE THIS SORT OF THING IN SUPERHERO MOVIES,,

now as for negatives. not a fan of the milking gag 😬 it just made me kinda uncomfortable tbh. so upset abt baxter dying right off the bat :-( idk if it wouldve been bad for the narrative or whatever but i just wish he survived. and its kinda. weird that the ONLY character to die in this movie was him idk. also not feelin great about all the mutants introduced in the movie being siblings/cousins???? especially since splinter ended up dating the cockroach lady?...... like. superfly's group all consider each other siblings and they consider the turtles their cousins and splinter is the turtles' dad so. like i know its a cartoon and its not that deep but i Do Not Like That. really fucking wish they used literally anything other than ao/t for donnie's anime of interest. come on man. also really wish the puking wasnt. like that. or wasnt there at all. man. maybe its just me idk. and finally! got some mixed feelings on the conclusion with superfly. LIKE. yes obviously the goal of murdering all humans on earth is Bad but ultimately his point was that humans cant accept the existence of mutants. and i mean. his point was kinda proven over and over again throughout the movie? and literally the only reason the mutants (minus superfly) were welcomed into society or whatever was because they helped defeat "a bad mutant". but that. sends a weird message? i think? bc like. so if youre just existing as someone different from others, people can just outcast you and thats totally cool and fine and if you want to be accepted you have to be useful to them in some way? i dont think thats a very good message gdkjfgd,,, idk maybe its not that deep either but it left me feeling kinda. wondering how long this would even last,, which sounds pretty pessimistic but i hope im getting my point across.

thats all i had to say on the matter for now! once again, im looking forward to reading more different opinions on this movie and im hoping someone mentions any of this so i know im not insane <3 ig let me know what u think if u think its important? im always always willing to learn

[fictionkinfessions]

continuing on my last ask so it's less of a text block, (also mpc please post only after my one mentioning being the first to marry is posted)

if any of you know the 2018 iteration of timothy, created by pinetreevillain, *yeah* that was my husband. i remember our ceremony being a very quiet very small thing that only lasted a short while because i very much didn't want something extravagant for something that intense and important for me. yes, i know, donatello hamato, the most extravagant turtle, not wanting something big and extravagant on his wedding day. in my defense I did so to avoid overstimulation during the event. it was still very very purple though. *obviously*.

raph was the second the marry, where i got married in my mid 20s raph rather went late 30s, i can't remember too many details of such but i know he married a lovely woman and they had one or two kids, i was very much the uncle that would come home for the holidays and spoil those kids.

mikey never really wanted to marry, he had a partner or two when he was younger but never really found interest in romance. he traveled a lot when he got older, painted thousands of beautiful pieces, we had a few in our home even. he became a bit famous for his work with his bright and beautiful it all was.

leo never wanted to marry either if i recall correctly, he liked dating and all that but marriage felt way too big for him, he considered it for a short while with a very nice yokai he met, but nothing came of it and they went off on their own.

april got married as well, early 30s i believe, i can't recall her partners unfortunately but i know there were two, i think it may have been casey (cassandra casey, we all called future casey "junior") and sunita, yet I'm not 100% certain.

its interesting to think about in my opinion, most people don't get memories that far into the future from what I've seen in rottmnt kins, its nice remembering though, to me at least.

-donatello "donnie" von ryan hamato

#🦂🩸

.

[brightlotusmoon]

Hello! List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the ask box for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you! Learn to know your mutual and followers! :3 (don't need to do it if you don't want to)

1. Neurotransmitters working correctly. I can't make my own so I use store bought, it's fine.

2. Cats. My cats. All cats. Kittens. I need a box of kittens, stat.

3. Fanfiction. Ninja Turtles fanfiction. Mikey fanfiction. Mikey angst fanfiction that gives him ADHD and psychic empathy and real emotional intelligence with epic wisdom. I've been doing this for thirty years don't make me stop now, it's how I cope. I love my sunshine child.

4. Chocolate. Preferably just plain milk or dark. Do you have any?

5. Being loved and loving in return. Hugs, give me hugs. It's dopamine, I crave it. Yes, I'm one of those autistics who loves hugs, big tight hugs that can soothe my ADHD crow brain because I get to focus on the shiny that is you rather than the shiny that is oh shit is that the depression shadow monster lurking back there.

-

I don't know who to tag but they're probably other people in the TMNT fandom. I dunno.

This fandom makes me happy. It's not toxic like some people assume, it never was, not in the thirty years I've been involved. It just occasionally has some folks who get brought in by newer iterations who start bullying thus spreading toxicity a little, usually over headcanons where the characters represent marginalized identities, which doesn't make any sense because these characters aren't even human and are animal based mutants specifically turtles which let's face it will do all sorts of bizarre things and don't need to be compared to humans who naturally fuck up each other just because someone doesn't look or behave certain ways.

I prefer corvids. And felines. And vulpines. My first real online fanfic OC* was a mutated calico cat human with my own disabilities and orientations and I made her into Mikey's best friend and then surprise lover and then surprise polyamory, because my writerbrain is Like That a lot.

I have a new OC who is a fennec fox humanoid mutant again same hat as the other and I wish I could eat strawberries all day and bounce around and nibble a person's hand to show I love them. I nibble my own hand when I'm anxious, but I'm autistic ADHD and that's stimming and it's my hand though. Oh, and a human OC, same hat, for another AU. Which reminds me that AU fics are Alternate Universe headcanons and not canon thus why the heckity hells do people threaten each other anyway, it's fantasy and we don't own it, we just play pretend and share it with each other in the hopes that we're not alone in wanting to commiserate all these nifty ideas and theories and squee when we connect and curl up when we get scolded; and the very fact that we get threatened because we have shared fiction ideas that will never work out in the real world is a sad fact I still can't wrap my head around, you would think after my literal twenty years on internet platforms I would understand everything but nah. Even the various official creators and different creators coming from fandom into franchise had the same thoughts and I remember the conversations where they said how confused they were too at fans trying to hurt each other, nobody took it so seriously. So I guess what makes me happy is seeing fans open up to each other, make creative content that resonates, rising above bullying that comes from the bullies' own fear and revulsion and hatred and conflation of ideas that shouldn't be the same but they're probably sheltered and naive anyway so I don't hate back, I was sheltered too and I'm still naive. And it's funny and weird how I easily lose working memory yet random long term storage memories keep surfacing. What makes me happy is that I still have a whole mind, full of stuff, brain all wrinkly with knowledge which makes me think of Jason from The Good Place talking about how smooth brains don't have much knowledge or information, and there goes my crow brain again, I really think I want to nickname ADHD and change it to Cognitive Attentive Tempo Syndrome, I have CATS in my brain, my brain is a Kinetic Cognitive Style room full of cats and there's toys everywhere.

I'm happy my disabled body is still standing and moving after forty years since my birth at 26 weeks back when nobody knew anything, and in a couple of months it'll be 41, and there will be even more information and education and I want to be a test subject, an example, of living fairly well past the life expectancy that they used to assume for cerebral palsy and for autism and for ADHD all separate so imagine it all at once, and the neoteny that comes with each, plus now EDS, and wow I'm giving myself so much serotonin just thinking all this, because there's also major depressive disorder that hell might be cyclothymia I dunno I'll talk to my doctors, and then there's temporal lobe epilepsy that a lot of people just die from at all ages, and I've become such an advocate and activist and alive and forever pro choice and autonomy, and my parents still adore the hell out of each other and me, and I'm teaching them through my advocacy just as they taught me, and I don't think I could ever do public speaking but maybe in a nursing college, a disability advocate speaker? Because there is always everything to learn and relearn and discover and uncover and it's important to be able to change our minds and our thinking and our habits and our coping strategies and our understanding of how things work because nothing is static everything progresses, even cerebral palsy which is surprisingly a thing that while static and progressive still leads to changing neurobiological and neuromuscular updates via neuroplasticity, my physical therapist calls me unique among all his patients, a Variable when there shouldn't be, and it makes me happy that we are discovering things about my neuropsychology and musculoskeletal system that nobody ever considered, and I want to be around to see medical science make all sorts of conclusions that could help others like me.

What makes me happy is learning, connecting, passing on knowledge, being cautiously optimistic in this nihilistic sense of how everything matters in the nothingness where nothing matters intrinsically but each small thing matters on the surface, extrinsic, how it is seen and felt and considered. People forget what existential nihilism supposed to mean. I may not matter in the totality, but I matter in the little bits that count for others like me, and that makes me happy.

[brin-guivera]

It Chapter 1: Review

Well guys, I’m just back from seeing IT (for the second time) at the cinema and I think I have organized my thoughts enough to type out a coherent review.

I have been looking forward to this movies for years. It’s absolutely true – the movie has been in development hell for at least seven years and has gone through many iterations (and a couple of directorial and cast changes) but was finally, FINALLY, released in theatres on Friday. Was it worth waiting for? HELL YES. Was it a faithful adaptation? Mostly. Was it perfect? Nope, but I doubt anything would live up to my sky-high expectations.

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we…

it: the beginning

I first read IT by Stephen King when I was little more than a nipper. ‘Tis true, I was (barely) twelve years old when I first read King’s masterpiece and it absolutely scared the ever-living-shit out of me. Sorry for the colourful language but in this case I believe it to be completely justified.

IT is without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most if not THE most terrifying books I have ever read. Seriously, I had to sleep with the light on for about two months afterwards. I was in no way easily frightened as a kid either. I loved horror (both in books and movies) and had an impressive constitution when it came to scares… or so I thought at least.

IT changed everything for me. I really related to the characters (who were roughly around the same age as I was during the flashback portions of the book) as I was bullied as a pre-teen and they felt real to me in ways a lot of other book characters didn’t.

I read IT over the span of a few days and although it definitely had a few WTF moments (the *ahem* orgy sequence where the kids move from childhood to adulthood by indulging in a bit of underage sex – yep, you read that right) but overall it was a fairly realistic depiction of childhood.

These kids were losers like I was. They were bullied and ignored like I was. I related heavily to them and the trials they go through and although I was never pursued by a child-eating malevolent creature (that I am aware of anyway) their transition to young adulthood felt about as turbulent as my own.

IT was a revelation to me. Although the adult portion of the novel was slightly less relatable to me, I still enjoyed seeing the characters mature and face their demons.

it: the miniseries

Not too long after reading the book, I discovered the television adaptation which I also really enjoyed even though it never quite reached the heights of the book for me.

Tim Curry was a tour de force as Pennywise and I very much enjoyed the kids section of the miniseries although the less said about the adult portion, the better. I am in no way dissing the adult actors (they really did their best to add some gravitas to the proceedings) but the storyline for their half of the tale was disappointingly scripted and veered on the camp rather than scary.

Although it was clearly limited by budgetary constraints, it was a satisfactory adaptation if not completely faithful to the original novel. Even then though, I often wondered what could be accomplished with a movie version rather than a somewhat sanitized TV adaptation. I would wait a long time for this vision to be realized.

it: development hell

As I mentioned above, the movie lingered in development hell for years. Originally, True Detective creator Cary Fukunaga was signed on to direct (he still has a scriptwriter credit) and I was intrigued by what he would bring to the table especially as he had casted Will Poulter (an actor whose career that I have followed since he was a young ‘un) as Pennywise.

After some disagreements with New Line, the studio funding the project, Fukunaga stepped aside and it looked as though the movie would never come to fruition. Luckily, Mama director Andrés Muschietti felt up to the challenge of taking on the immense role of adapting this monster of a book into a workable film.

it: the movie

Now, finally we come to the movie itself. Muschietti has brought a brand new vision to IT. From what I can gather, it is fairly different to Fukunaga’s original concept. It added in a lot more of the book and is overall a more faithful adaptation.

But, the age-old question remains, is IT any good?

Well, I am happy to report that IT is a pretty damn good movie in its own right. A lot of the elements from the book are retained and the changes such as moving the setting from the 1950s to the 1980s (and cashing in on the trend that the 80s is cool again that Stranger Things had going for it) works for the most part.

The movie opens with the iconic sequence of young Georgie Denbrough pestering his older brother Bill for a boat to sail in the storm that has kept him stuck indoors. This instantly sets the tone and the interplay between the two brothers is both dynamic and realistic. This then makes the following scene where young Georgie becomes IT’s first victim all the more heart-breaking.

The movie then shifts on to approximately eight months later, where the kids are finishing up school for the long-awaited summer holidays and making plans. For Bill Denbrough and his three young chums Eddie Kaspbrak, Stan Uris, and Richie Tozier – this means starting the search for Georgie whom Bill is convinced is still alive and alone and hurt somewhere within the town sewer system.

Their search will lead them to fellow outsiders Ben Hanscom, Beverley Marsh and Mike Hanlon and the seven of them form the ‘Losers Club’ who band together to not only try to ascertain what has happened to Georgie but to also find the other missing children of Derry. One by one, each of them will come to realize that there is a menace far beyond the uncaring adults and psychopathic bullies that dog them, that there is something far more evil in the town of Derry and IT is hungry…

The kid actors in the movie are beyond fantastic. They are such a great group and they really do feel like friends. There is a slight Stand by Me vibe at times which really works to the movie’s benefit. I was very impressed by Sophia Lillis who plays the young Beverley Marsh and Finn Wolfhard who plays Richie ‘Trashmouth’ Tozier (my favourite character from the book incidentally) but they were all excellent.

I was actually most concerned about Bill Skarsgård being able to convincingly pull off Pennywise (especially after the always-amazing Tim Curry) but I needn’t have worried because he brought a whole new meaning to word ‘terrifying’. He wasn’t Tim Curry but didn’t try to be which definitely was the right choice. He made the role his own.

The story was tweaked in places and there were some changes, but overall it retained the feel of the book which I think is much more important than being a direct word-for-word, scene-for-scene adaptation.

I thoroughly enjoyed IT and after viewing it a second time round, think it is definitely a contender for my favourite movie of the year. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it is successful enough that to warrant Chapter 2 (which is wholly contingent on the success of Chapter 1 unfortunately).

it: some other thoughts

Now, I have a theory *that it’s a demon, a dancing demon… gotta throw in a Buffy reference now and again dontcha know!* that there is a good reason why Sophia Lillis was cast as Beverley, she really looks like a young Amy Adams. Could it be that Muschietti is maybe courting Amy to play the elder Beverley Marsh?

A particular scene in IT where the creepy pharmacist likens the young lass to Lois Lane (played by Amy Adams in the latest adaptation of Superman) could perhaps lend credence to this theory. Or it could just be me spit-balling wildly here but I think I may be on to something…

This movie didn’t have as many allusions to other Stephen King works like The Dark Tower movie did, but it certainly made up for that with a lot of 80s nostalgia such as the Gremlins and Beetlejuice posters on one of the characters bedroom walls and Nightmare on Elm Street 5 playing at the local theatre in the film.

They also managed to squeeze in a reference to the Turtle that plays a role in the book (though wisely, not in this movie as it would probably be a bit too fantastical and that it is taking into account that IT literally is about a killer clown from outer space!) and where would an 80s-themed movie be without a New Kids on the Block appearance??

it: some fun facts

Fun fact 1: the Duffer brothers wanted to direct IT once upon a time but were deemed too inexperienced. They later would go on to create the genre savvy Stranger Things which was an unexpected hit.

Fun fact 2: IT shares a cast member with Stranger Things in young Finn Wolfhard who plays wise-cracking Richie in the film.

Fun fact 3: The entity IT makes an appearance every 27 years where it gorges itself on children (literally feeding itself on their fear) and goes into a sort-of hibernation until the next cycle is up. The miniseries was released in 1990. The movie has been released in 2017 – exactly 27 years later. Spooky coincidence? I think not…

Fun fact 4: The only cast member to have been cast in both the unfilmed Fukunaga version and Muschietti finished movie was Finn Wolfhard.

Fun fact 5: The scenes where Pennywise’s eyes move in different directions was not aided by CGI –  actor Bill Skarsgård is actually able to do this. Also, the scene where Pennywise unfolds himself from a refrigerator was also Skarsgård; on set he was given training by a professional contortionist in order to perform the scene himself. Dude really does go ‘method’ to get the right result!

Fun fact 6: Stephen King fully endorsed the film – he saw an early screening and gave the project his approval.

[petlover18-blog1]

This Short Film Aims to 'Rehumanize' Immigrants

New Post has been published on https://www.petlovers.shovelnews.com/this-short-film-aims-to-rehumanize-immigrants/

This Short Film Aims to 'Rehumanize' Immigrants

Caracol Cruzando tells of the journey of 7-year old Anais “Caracol” Cruzando, who leaves her homeland of Costa Rica to immigrate with her undocumented parents to the U.S. En route, she is separated from her family and her best friend, a tiny pet turtle named Tiku. In just 15 minutes, the short film lands a powerful punch about the pain, trauma, resilience and unlikely beauty within this migration experience. 

Writer and director Pamela Chavez shares the heartache, and imagination that went into this touching film. 

The Advocate: What drew you to tell this story? Is any of it based on your life? Chavez: Yes, it’s loosely based on some experiences I had immigrating from Costa Rica to the U.S. I was born in the U.S., but my family was not — they were undocumented. We all lived with the fears of deportation looming over us, a fear many undocumented families feel. My parents decided to move back down to Costa Rica when I was 5, so we caravaned down. Things didn’t work out for them, so we moved back up when I was 8. The airport scenes in the U.S. were true to my memories as a child — it’s similar to what I experienced. When I lived in Costa Rica, I was having a hard time adjusting, and my parents got me a dog and she quickly became my best friend. When we left, we had to leave her behind, along with most of our extended family. As an 8-year-old, I was crushed. I was devastated to leave my dog, to move again, leave my grandparents, cousins, aunties, and uncles. It was a rough transition. I wanted to take those memories and do something with them. I wanted to approach the story through that lens. The memories were very vivid, and I felt that I could use them to propel a sort of healing process for me, to help let go of those memories in a way that felt transformative. I wanted to take control of my narrative, I wanted to express something genuine, heartfelt, and relevant. I didn’t want to just focus on the feelings of despair, I wanted to rehumanize our experiences and offer a counternarrative to the ways im/migrants are portrayed in the media.

The connection between her family and her pet turtle is really touching. How did you conceptualize the dream sequences that show their bond? That scene took several iterations to write — I had some wild alternative sequences! Luckily, I had a talented story editor, Aurora Guerrero, helping me shape the story. We went through several versions, and she gave me honest, helpful feedback. At the end of the day, I wanted to make sure there was a thread between a few important themes- water, nature, and loss. These themes carry throughout the film and serve as a part of Anais’s identity. It’s where she grounds herself. In the whale scene, we see her courage tested. We see that ground shake, and it won’t be the first time. The whale, who she fears, stands between her and Tiku in the sky. Tiku is not afraid and continues to be playful. Anais knows she has to be courageous to meet him in the sky. She confronts this fear, and their final moment of happiness gives us a bit of closure. We don’t know she’s about to lose Tiku, but because she faced her fear and didn’t let doubt linger, she was able to at least have a final moment with him. Loss is like this — we don’t know when it’s coming, but living with courage gives us some peace. Their bond is important, and what she does with it when it breaks is equally important for the story.   How does being a queer woman of color influence your directing and the stories you tell? I learned to be a storyteller by learning from other QWOC filmmakers who create, advocate, and battle in this field. Our narratives are sidelined, so I approach directing and writing with this is in mind. I think about the film from differing perspectives. I make choices about who this might be for or who might disagree with it. The decisions are conscious and thought out — being a QWOC, you have to be aware of how you are going to be perceived. As a director, you make a choice about those perceptions. Every director has their own voice and consciousness around this. Because I follow in the footsteps of politically aware and active directors, my lens is one that centers justice, injustice, equity, identity and transformation. These are all pillars of the QWOC feminist movement. My voice, creatively, is where I add to this conversation. As an animator, as a visual artist, and as a storyteller that wants to mix both the genuine and the imaginative. I also prioritized a team of artists that were queer, people of color, or from marginalized communities. I did my research. I connected with my network — I reached out, and those people reached out to others. People believed in the story and signed up. The talent exists; prioritizing these voices was really important to me. I was given an opportunity through Latino Public Broadcasting  to create this story, and it was important for me to do the same.

Your bio says you want to “highlight the resilience and beauty that rise from these uniquely important experiences.” Why do you want to focus on the beauty that comes from these stressful and potentially traumatic immigrant situations? I want to focus on beautiful, real, and difficult experiences because they exist! This is my reality, it’s what I can tell from a genuine place. It would be odd for me to tell another story. I have experienced trauma and hardship, but there’s also the before, and there’s the after! The moments themselves have passed — for some, they repeat or continue longer than others — what we are left with is the life we live in between. By focusing on the lessons, it may help change future situations.  For example, in this film, Anais loses Tiku. Does it affect who she is? We don’t know for certain, but we have an idea. We see she comes from an identity that relies on nature, on her connection to the earth, on a dream world that brings her joy, on ancient, ancestral creatures that guide her, and all the worlds that exist in between. Her parents have instilled a sense of love and hope. Her father shares with her the story of her birth, of her strength. These are all elements that will help Anais grow from her loss. She’s got some tools! They will help root her, and we see that when she’s facing the moon in the hotel. Even after she loses Tiku and worries about her mother, she still hopes. That to me is beautiful. That’s powerful. It’s the rose that grows from the concrete, to quote Tupac Shakur. It’s character and resilience at play. It’s something our communities are very familiar with. Do we know what happens? No. But we have an idea.

How do you hope your film will impact viewers in the midst of our border crisis? The message being sent by the government during this crisis is that immigrants are subhuman. They’re using children as political pawns, and people see that it’s wrong! These are issues im/migrants have been dealing with for many years; it’s not new, but the purposeful separations are newer. The state’s rhetoric of clear, blatant criminalizing has people taking to the streets, fighting back. This film is not the answer, but it’s my answer. This is my form of activism, and I hope that it serves a rehumanizing purpose. Anais’s relationship to nature serves as a part of her identity as a Costa Rican. No matter where she goes she will always have a connection to that part of herself. It’s comforting — her identity serves a purpose beyond aesthetics. It’s humanizing, and will hopefully build empathy. I hope that families who are immigrating or who have immigrated, if they watch this, can find some semblance of hope. The journey across borders is hard, and we just want to forget. It’s important to remember where we came from, but most importantly the will it took to get here and how we can continue using it to propel us forward.     What happens to Tiku the turtle? This story is told through the perspective of a child. Just like Anais, we don’t know for sure where Tiku goes. Her dad is equally unaware,, and we will never know. If I was them, I would just be happy I didn’t get caught; that’s a lot of attention, and attention garners even more review from customs.  So, as an audience member, what do you do with that that feeling? Does it sink you? Does it frustrate you? Do you tap into parts of yourself that are resilient, after the anger? How do children feel about not knowing? Can this help create empathy? Where does your resilience come from? I had only a short amount of time in the film to build Anais’s resilience, but for her it comes from her relationship with nature. That’s why it’s important for to remember what Ceiba said — “Never lose yourself, or forget, we [nature] are everywhere.”

Caracol Cruzando is part of the PBS online film festival. Watch and vote for your favorite film here.

Learn more about Pamela Chavez here.

Source: https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2018/7/16/short-film-aims-rehumanize-immigrants