Funded: £2,508
Why isn’t ‘Latin American’ a recognised category on official forms? Ana Torre, Mexican actor and writer, is addressing the question with a short comedy film: The Box, about a Latin American woman fighting for representation in the UK who ends up trapped in a bureaucratic nightmare.
“Alexandra Huerta is a British-Mexican woman who wants more visibility for the Latin American community in the UK. She decides that having a box on the equal opportunities forms would be a good start. But what seemed like a straightforward task has been met with a lot of resistance, so she decides to walk into the Office of National Statistics herself, determined to convince them that her people deserve to be seen. As she gets engulfed by the ONS’s endless bureaucracy she is forced to examine her own assumptions and prejudices.”
Ana committed her own money to get the film’s funding off the ground, and raised the rest via a Kickstarter campaign drawing together film fans, diversity advocates, and the UK’s Latin American communities. I provided the strategy plus hands-on support, especially during some particularly busy periods – like many creative professionals, Ana and the team were working across multiple projects at any one time, so another dedicated person on hand can be helpful.
I got 150% return on my investment; you’re lovely and very good at what you do. Most of our backers were not friends nor family of mine and I am sure that without your help I would’ve never reached any of them, so to put it simply the campaign would’ve failed without you. I would’ve never thought about approaching LatAm businesses if you hadn’t suggested it and even if you had I’d been too scared to approach them without you almost literally holding my hand through it. Connecting with them was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. Thank you.
Ana Torre
Since funding:
At the time of writing, the team behind The Box have finished filming and are moving into post-production.