“This is a Transgressive Force that Springs from the Imagination”: Rodrigo Reyes on his Tribeca-Premiering Doc Sansón and Me

The latest from “25 New Faces” alum Rodrigo Reyes, who we last spoke with for 2020’s Tribeca-selected 499, might also be his most personal and potentially fraught. The journey to Sansón and Me began a decade ago, when the Mexican-American filmmaker’s day job as a Spanish court interpreter in rural California took a turn for the tragically unexpected. Sansón Noe Andrade was a “quiet and super-polite” 19-year-old who was behind the wheel when his (even younger) brother-in-law decided to open fire on a rival from the passenger side of Sansón’s car. As a result, both teens were charged with murder. And Sansón, perhaps unaware that the US criminal justice system runs on plea deals, decided to take his chances at trial — a decision, perhaps inevitably, that led to his being found guilty and sentenced to life without parole. Cut to Sansón thanking his interpreter with a handshake before being cuffed and whisked away by bailiffs, an image that’s haunted the helpless Reyes ever since. To learn how this chance encounter ultimately led to a sprawling cinematic collaboration between Reyes, Sansón, and the incarcerated man’s struggling family members still down in small town Mexico — as well as tricky ethical landmines — Filmmaker reached out to the director just prior to the doc’s June 12 world premiere in the Viewpoints section of this year’s Tribeca Festival.

To read my interview visit Filmmaker magazine.