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ÉCHALE SÁVILA
Sávila’s music video and mini documentary, Échale Sávila, promotes inter-generational healing
through the relationship with their mothers as they speak on themes of Mexican-American identity, resilience,
and healing shot through the lens of a Super-8 camera by filmmaker Caitlin Díaz (@shinykid).
To break cycles
We are vulnerable, we ask, we listen, we observe.
Below are questions we asked our own mothers in this process.
We offer them to you as a guide.
Download Full PDF Here
What was your childhoodlike?
What is a favorite memory from that time?
What was your relationship with your mother and grandmothers?
What was it like leaving home to start your own life?
Was there anyadvice/knowledge your mother/grandmothers
gave you that were important for your transition into adulthood?
Were there any remedies, cuentas, sabidurias
that your mother/grandmothers passed to you?
How would you want your children to remember you?
The Vision:
Fabiola Reyna (guitarist), Brisa Gonzalez (singer) y Papi Fimbres (drums) reunite with their mothers in their current location of Portland, Oregon to honor the histories of their lives and those who came before them. Sávila reunite with their mothers to bring awareness to the experience, responsibilities, and trauma that women/mothers/care-takers face and how that transfers onto the generations that follow. Through this video Sávila seeks to answer questions such as, “How do we break this cycle of repeated suffering?” How do we honor and acknowledge the trauma of our history and use it to heal and empower our future?”
Sávila:
The film culminates in a psychedelic rendition of the Painted Hills as the band and their mothers perform the self-titled track, Sávila —a song written to honor the Aloe Vera plant, the beauty of our earth, and the healing elements it provides us. Shot at the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, the performance references the 1970s television show, Midnight Special with theatrical lighting and sparkling highlights. The histories shared at the beginning of the film gain momentum and explode on screen as the band and their mothers dance, sing and play instruments. Music becomes a tool for healing, shared by all and passed on to their audience.
Shot and Directed by Caitlin Díaz:
With the content of these histories being extremely intimate to the subjects, Díaz felt it was important to create a safe and encouraging environment for the band and their mothers to tell their stories. She chose to conduct the interviews using the Oral History Methodology which “[seeks] an in-depth account of personal experience and reflections” allowing for the subjects to have full agency of their narrative. The interviews and footage for the documentary portion of the film were conducted and shot in the Painted Hills and Blue Basin Ridge in Oregon. This backdrop accentuated the psychological layers of memory, experience and lineage through its physical representation of millions of years of history through the land formation’s multicolored layers.
Cast and Crew
Shot on location at the Painted Hills & Blue Baskin Ridge in Oregon
Traditional Lands of the ancient Umatilla, Wasco, Warm Springs,
Northern Paiute, and Shoshone People
Mamis (Mothers)
Martha Reyna (Fabi)
Mercedes Gonzalez (Brisa)
Berta Fimbres (Papi)
Director + Director of Photography + Editor
Caitlin Díaz
Concept and Art Direction
Sávila
Producer
Joop Joop Creative
MUAH + Styling
Noelle Sosaya
MUAH + Set Design
Maria Joan Dixon
Photographer
Evan James Benally Atwood
Sound Mix
Alejandra Leon
Title Design
Trinh Huynh
Original Score
Fabiola Reyna
Production Assistants
Shana Fimbres
Megan Watson
Special Thanks