The Global Search for Education: #NanaRocks: An Interview with Director Leticia Agudo

Posted By C. M. Rubin on Apr 8, 2024

This month, audiences can screen #NanaRocks on the Planet Classroom Network. The film is curated for the Planet Classroom Network by KIDS FIRST! Film Festival.

#NanaRocks, directed by Leticia Agudo, is a touching short film portraying the sisterly bond between Rachel and Rosie and their grandmother. Through humor and heart, it explores the complexities of family dynamics, shedding light on the impact of social media on relationships and the importance of cherishing loved ones.

The Global Search for Education is pleased to welcome Director Leticia Agudo.

Leticia, what inspired you to create #NanaRocks and explore the dynamics between sisters and their grandmother?

My mum! She bemoaned the lack of films with older women characters, and she is, of course, right. Also, from observing in my own and other family dynamics the natural competition that can exist between siblings, and how older relatives can have favorites among grandchildren, nieces, and nephews, even unwittingly. I also had a particular interest in showing that quiet, shy people can often be dismissed within their family, work, and social groups. There is an extra pressure now to “open up” in social media or be deemed invisible otherwise.

How did you approach balancing the humor and heartwarming elements in the film, especially considering its themes of family relationships and social media?

As a viewer, I tend to favor films and content that include both. I think they highlight each other in this way, the comedy and the emotional aspects – I love tragicomedy! I think family relationships are perfect for this mixture of tones: we can be extremely irritated by a sibling one moment and be tender and caring towards them the next. Social media poses great opportunities for playing with these issues, as it’s all about external perception. I wanted to contrast what Rachel (the “showy” sister) is doing and not doing with her Nana IRL versus what she posts online. For a happy ending, they all co-exist: restored family relationships and appreciation (of Rosie, the quiet, hard-working sister) and acceptance of Rachel for who she is: the person who needs online public appreciation.

We see some creative shots in the film, like the camera zooming out when Nana is able to breathe after the allergic emergency injection, or the multiple shots of her riding on her slow scooter. What was your creative process working on the cinematography, and why did you decide to stylize your film this way?

I wanted to stretch myself as a director using visual narrative and comedy as much as possible, and not rely on dialogue to tell the story. I’ve been working with the same DoP a few years, Jaro Waldeck, who shares my enthusiasm for doing as much visually as possible, so she and I discussed what I wanted to do, and also with my husband, Whackala’s Paul McGrath, who’s an animator and VFX artist. He drew the storyboard of the shots I wanted, and, between the three of us, we worked out the requirements for the shots that needed VFX. For example, when Nana approaches a busy road on her scooter, she was actually moving towards an empty road; we shot the same frame without her, but with cars passing left and right, and Paul composited them altogether in post. She was also afraid of rushing towards an unblocked road, so Paul walked beside her the whole time in case she needed help stopping the scooter, and removed himself from the shot afterwards – movie magic! For some of the things I wanted we had to adapt, because we didn’t have fancy rigs to mount the camera on, but, you’re always learning.

The film addresses the impact of social media on relationships. How do you hope viewers will reflect on their own online behaviors and real-life interactions after watching #NanaRocks?

That maybe they pay more attention to the second, as in real-life interactions of the people around you, and how you may be dismissing them, their love and support, for what seems like a bigger and more public support online, but which may not translate to anything real. As someone else said, people’s posts are like “best-of” showreels; whether they’re celebratory or sad, it’s just how they want other people to see them. I think the feature film “Eighth Grade” from 2018 shows this really well.

Thank you Leticia!