Sin Nombre

Cary Fukunaga Interview

	I was so used to hearing stories about rival gang members being chopped up with machetes and set on fire that I think I just became desensitized...

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At just 31 years of age, Californian-born Cary Fukunaga has quietly blown away some members of the Maxim office with his face-slapping feature debut Sin Nombre. A tale of South American gangs and traumatic border runs, with a great big soggy love story running through it, it may not be uplifting Friday night viewing, but well worthy of a pencilling into your 'must watch' diary because it's also stupendously good (in a GRITTY, eye-opening, City Of God-esque way, that is).

We caught up with the man himself to discuss scary gang people, prison killings and um, romantic musicals...

INTERVIEW:

Have you had any first-hand experiences of South American gangs?

Not really, I researched immigration at film school, and it became apparent that gangs played a role, so that’s how they ended up in Sin Nombre. So I met with gang members in prisons, and cut those down to a short-list of those who were trustworthy. Unfortunately, one of them got killed off, so I only had two good contacts at the end.

'Killed off'? He was murdered?

Yeah, he was stabbed to death in prison.

Just how shocking was the gangland world these people disclosed?

Actually, the newspapers portray them to be much worse than they are. Of course, their world is very brutal, but I wasn’t trying to paint them as devils. I just wanted to be honest. They have very specific codes of conduct, and the main character in Sin Nombre keeps breaking them, so he gets punished.

Is the ‘13-second kicking’ new members have to endure a real induction?

Oh yeah. You can go on YouTube and see stuff like that.

Were you personally shocked by their tales?

My shock levels have changed over the years. There was nothing they told me that made me go ‘oh my God, I can’t believe that’, because I was so used to hearing stories about rival gang members being chopped up with machetes and set on fire, and doing terrible things to each other. Even when I was doing earlier scripts, I read so many horrible things I think I just became desensitized.

Obviously, the other key focus of your story is border runs and illegal immigration…

Yeah, that came about at film school where I wanted to do a story with some relevance to society, and not just another piece of style [this became the short film Victoria Para Chino]. Studios were impressed and then wanted to know if I had a feature to come out of the premise, and rather than just focus on the borders, which is done enough in films, I thought the drama should predominately unfold aboard the train which was lesser known and more dramatic.

Did you speak to many people who tried to jump the US border?

Hundreds. The success rate is very low. Only half of the people who start even make it as far as Mexico City.

What happens to them?

They either get tired, arrested, injured, or lose money. They just turn back or they die. Or, of course, they get arrested, and can be held in detention for months before being deported.

What are your personal views on border control into the US?

It’s obviously not working, but I don’t have a solution for it. But opening the borders definitely isn’t a solution, either.

You mentioned that the short film you made is what led to you being given the chance to make Sin Nombre…

Well, it wasn’t intended as that. The short film was just meant as a short film, but if I hadn’t made it, I wouldn’t have learnt about immigration, and I wouldn’t have been given the money to make a feature, or been on anyone’s radar.

So are short films the best way of breaking into film-making?

There’s no one way to getting in. You’ve just got to keep doing your thing, make as many short films as possible, write as much possible, and grab the opportunities when they arise, and not have that fear of failure. I had a couple of friends who had shorts that were getting attention, but they never wrote their feature script in time. They became paralysed. And then the next set of kids were already out there with their short films and winning awards. It’s a very short window. It’s a continuous ‘strike while the iron’s hot’. And if the iron’s not hot, you’ve got to heat it up again. I can’t rest on any laurels. My next script must be good.

What is your next script? Or is top secret?

Well it won’t necessarily be the next film I’ll make, but it’s a big departure from Sin Nombre. It’s actually a musical in collaboration with a very talented classical composer and will be a multi-dimensional love story: a guy from one dimension falls for a girl from another. It’s not a rock opera, though, but definitely has a bit of opera about it. There won’t be any big dance numbers, but a lot of strings, percussion, and even some brass.