Mikel Guillen is the Director of Mahdi, Produced By PickPocket Media Films - Photo Courtesy of Mikel Guillen
The director of Pickpocket Media Films rings my doorbell several times and adds some knocks for emphasis. I know he is here.
He is dressed in dark colours, looking like someone who works in film with a black French cap bought from H&M accenting his freshly cut hair.
The film he has come to talk about is Mahdi, a film still in development about female genital mutilation, paternal love and immigration. The title of the film is named after the main character who is a Somali immigrant who comes to Canada in hope of a better life. The French-capped tall Mexican man who has come to my door is Mikel Guillen, the director, who speaks with heat in his face about the film.
“I’m just hoping that the characters in Mahdi will evolve within the scene,” says Guillen. “I’d rather do long takes where time will make us feel the characters.”
Mahdi is an “auteur” style of filmmaking says Guillen. It is an art film.
Guillen works as a translator at the Law Society of Upper Canada full-time, plus works on at least three films a year with Pickpocket Media Films. He does this full-time too. Not only is Guillen the director of Mahdi and all of the films that Pickpocket has produced, he is also the owner of the production company.
“I’m not going to get funding for the film in Canada,” says Guillen looking disappointed. “I will have to go to Europe.”
Guillen plans to travel to East Africa to shoot scenes of the film.
With the resurgence of discussions around female genital mutilation and a renewed interest in Africa – Guillen just may find that he will get funding in Canada if he is willing to leave no stone unturned.
