Céline Roustan
Following the loss of her grandmother, Daniela, a young immigrant woman finds herself stuck in a 9 to 5 job and suffering a potent and all-consuming sort of grief. As she uses that experience to push herself forward, with the help of her female ancestors, in Huella (Footprint) writer/director Gabriela Ortega paints a powerful picture of the five stages of grief from a fresh perspective, capturing the layers of the immigrant experience in that situation.
“I often felt stuck between the past and the present, split between two cultures, countries, and versions of me”
When we asked Ortega how the film came to be, she shared that it came from a dream that was a “manifestation of lineage” back in 2020, before the pandemic took over our lives. Adding that the vision “triggered an exploration of the five stages of grief and where they lived in my body”. As an immigrant herself, she also wanted to infuse the film with the inherent duality that most find themselves caught in, “split between two cultures, countries, and versions of me (who I am to others and who I am to myself)”. Rare are the experiences as universal as grief, and while the setup of Huella is specific, it is an incredibly relatable film as it also depicts the fear that every person who is “away” has to live with, that of “not being able to be there” .
Ortega’s approach plays with the codes of genre, as Daniela’s grief and identity crisis are manifested through a curse that she needs to break to be able to move forward. From the sound design to the aesthetic, the director crafts an atmosphere with a strong and captivating visual flair as it alternates between real-life and the dream-like sequences. The dance scenes are especially mesmerizing and emotionally compelling as they allow Daniela to connect with her family. While the scenes of her at work at first have a dash of humor, before turning to something darker as she is thrown into the curse and has to break the cycle to come back.
Shakira Barrera (Glow) excels in the lead role in Huella
The cinematography, the sound design and the edit all work together to build the enthralling universe that Ortega penned, but it is Shakira Barrera’s hypnotic performance that truly allow the film to hit all its emotional layers. A professional dancer, who you might recognize from GLOW or more recently from Freevee’s Sprung, Barrera’s portrayal of Daniela is subtle and effective as she traverses her grief, while trying to survive at the same time. Her presence in that final scene is vital in helping to wrap the film on such a deeply cathartic and hopeful note.
Produced as part of Lena Waithe’s Rising Voices fellowship, Huella was selected at many festivals including Sundance, Aspen, the Palm Springs ShortFest and Fantastic Fest. Ortega is now currently working on the feature adaptation of this short, having won some development funds, while her new short Beautiful, FL, is part of season 2 of Disney’s Launchpad and is already on the festival circuit, having just played at the Palm Springs ShortFest.