An Industry Case Study
Narrative | Dramatic Features
Film Name: Sweet Potatoes
Genre: Historical Drama
Length of film: in word(s) / number(s)
Date: February 2020
Director: Rommel Villa Barriga
Producer: Andrea Porras & Damon Laguna
Writer: Rommel Villa Barriga
Cinematographer: Luke Sargent
Editor: name(s)
Composer: name(s)
Production Company: USC – University of Southern California
Budget: $25,000
Financing: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Shooting Format: Digital Color
Screening Format: ProRes MOV (Apple), DCP (Digital Cinema Package)
World Premiere: Los Angeles
Awards: 2020 Student Academy Awards, Global Shorts Awards for best Directing and Award of Excellence, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation – Production Award
Website: https://rommelvillafilms.com/sweet-potatoes/
The Official Trailer for Sweet Potatoes
Watch The Trailer for Sweet Potatoes directed by Rommel Villa Barriga
A Short Biography of Rommel Villa Barriga
I am a director, producer, and writer born and raised in Sucre, Bolivia. My theater work are The Fruit and The Tree (2015), and The Passion of Christ (2014). Both won Best Play and Best Director at the Catechistic Dramatic Festival in Bolivia. My writing and directing work at USC includes The Burial, a short film; Sleepless Nights, Be My Light, and Sketchworld, an Augmented Reality commercial for Microsoft.
My new project is a historical film called SWEET POTATOES. It follows the story of Luis Miramontes, the Mexican scientist who synthesized the main component of the birth control pill. The project is fully funded by the Sloan Foundation and finished production in June 2019. While we edit the last one, I will also edit a feature documentary directed by Daniel Druhora, a fellow USC alumni.
The Rommel Villa Barriga Interview
indieactivity: What is your film about?
Rommel Villa Barriga (RVB): Sweet Potatoes follows the real-life events behind Luis Miramontes, the Mexican scientist who in 1951, synthesized the hormone that originated the birth control pill. The story focuses on the controversial religious, scientific, and personal events that followed Luis’ invention. The film was made as means to showcase the revolutionary achievement of a humble Latino man from an underrepresented background who got little recognition for the revolutionary work he did, and it is only the first episode of many more cathartic stories from unheard voices out there.
Tell us about the festival run, marketing and sales?
Rommel Villa Barriga (RVB): Sweet Potatoes won the 2020 Student Academy Award in the Domestic Narrative category. In addition, it was an Official Selection at Oscar Qualifying La Shorts International and HollyShorts, as well as being an official selection at NALIP, Latino MediaFest, Sedicicorto Forti, Cine MiamiFest, LA Latinx Shorts, and a Winner at Global Shorts in the Directing and Award of Excellence categories.
Give the full Official Synopsis for your film?
Rommel Villa Barriga (RVB): 1951, Mexico City. After synthesizing the main component of the contraceptive pill, young scientist Luis Miramontes deals with the religious and personal consequences of his ground-breaking invention.
Development & Financing?
Rommel Villa Barriga (RVB): Sweet Potatoes was first written in 2016, after I had experienced discrimination as a Latinx gay man arriving Los Angeles for the first time. I took all negative stereotypes against the Latinx culture as fuel to look for stories about Latinx figures who have made a significant change for the world we live in. After finding the story of Luis Miramontes, I reached out to Luis’ family members, interviewed them and developed the screenplay as well as a pitch package. I pitched the story to the Alfred P. Sloan Production Grant and was one of the two grant recipients in 2019, receiving $22,500 to make the film.
Production?
Rommel Villa Barriga (RVB): We had a very extensive production process. After getting the Sloan grant, I hired my producers Andrea Porras and Damon Laguna. Together, we hired the key crew in Los Angeles in January 2019, always keeping as a goal that we wanted to go to Mexico to film on location. We arranged the schedule so that we would go to Mexico to scout locations in March 2019 with Andrea, who as a native Mexican filmmaker had all the needed connections to make the production happen, while Damon dealt with all the logistical and budgetary needs back in Los Angeles.
In the meantime, I had meetings with USC Mentors as well as Science advisors to get the script to the best possible shape. As for casting, we hired Elvira Richards, a casting director back in Mexico City who helped finding the incredible cast we had in the film. The production happened in June 2019. We had an 8-day shoot in Durango, Mexico. The project had an amazing Mexican cast and a crew formed by talented Mexican and American filmmakers.
We got an amazing camera package, the Alexa Classic with vintage lenses to capture a soft and romantic film-like picture. While using a lot of push-ins and dolly moves to showcase the world and the constant movement of the characters in the film. The team filmed every single scene in the script to make sure we had all the footage needed to play around in editorial.
The first cut of Sweet Potatoes was 59min long. It was a very long cut. Ashley, Sebastian and I, spent July through October watching dailies, moving scenes, deleting repeated/unnecessary moments, structuring the montages, and editing an engaging story that in the end came down to be a 29min film. There was a lot of work to do, so having 3 editors definitely help piecing the right story together.
Sound design was a great process as well. Eric, Ryan, and Chris – another amazing trio – worked tirelessly from October 2019 to January 2020 cutting backgrounds, adding sound effects, doing ADR and Voice Over – which was an important element in the story -, and with Jesper Ankarfeldt’s captivating music, the other 50% of the film was finished.
I exported the deliverables of the film in February 2020. The process was long but very fulfilling.
Festival Preparation & Strategy?
RVB: I met with Sandrine and Clementine at USC’s Industry Relations to come up with a Festival List organized in order of Screening dates so that I could submit Sweet Potatoes to the right festivals at the right time. The festival list includes Oscar Qualifying, Latinx, Historical, Diversity, and Spiritual festivals which would be more likely to be appealed by the themes of the film. My producers and I created social media pages and a website to make sure the film was reachable.
The Release?
RVB: The film is currently on the festival run, still open for distribution options.
Advice from the Filmmaker?
RVB: I would say to be humble, to persevere and to fight for what you believe. The film industry is a difficult one. Many times I doubted myself, thinking I wasn’t talented enough, that I didn’t deserve any recognition. I still have those fears, but I keep reminding myself that I love what I do, and I believe in the stories I tell, which keeps me going, always learning something new each time I fail.
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