Armando, the foreman on a construction site, does all he can to save his crew after an accident. Instead he finds himself looking into the dark underbelly of the real world of labour traffickers.
Director Julio O. Ramos and co- writer and producer Lucas Mireles deliver a strong message with this award-winning short (Nashville and Clermont- Ferrand). The film explores the conditions and fate of illegal migrant workers in the USA. This production might be based in America but it is a universal theme that has echoes all over the world. Workers are lured by labour traffickers, who paint a fake rosy picture of the work conditions and possibilities, to desperate men, who are trying to survive and provide for their families in an ever-harsher world. These illegal workers are exploited in such a way as to be no better than slaves or workers in bondage, treated with no respect and in violation of all human rights.
Ramos & Mireles were especially astute to get the talented Tenoch Huerta for the key role of Armando. This young Mexican actor has already shone in excellent performances in such films as the powerful ‘SIN NOMBRE’(2009) by Cary Jôji Fukunaga, Netflix’s ‘NARCOS: MEXICO’(2018), and GÜEROS (2014) by Alonso Ruizpalacios.
Julio O. Ramos describes his choice: -
“The main character, Armando, is Tenoch Huerta from Mexico. Lucas Mireles and I attended a film festival back in 2014 where we saw this film from Mexico called ‘Güeros‘, by a first-time feature film maker. We fell in love with the movie and also with the main character, [played by] Tenoch. We thought it would be so great to work with him. In ‘Güeros’ he plays Sombra… the older brother. We were blown away by this beautiful movie and his performance. Then, when the genesis of this project took off, we always had Tenoch in our heads and [fortunately] it was not too hard. He is a down-to-earth person. He loved the script and came on board really quickly. The other one who was great to work with was Karren Karagulian, an Armenian actor, who is based in the New York and who has been in every single one of Sean Baker’s movies. Baker says that Karren is his lucky charm! He's Armenian, but to be honest I never thought of nationalities when I created that character, because, initially, in the real life story, the contractor of my friend, was a man from Israel so we started by creating an Israeli man in the movie as well, but then we thought of Karren and he is perfect in the role. I had never thought about Armenians or Russians, but then he told me that he could speak Russian, so he said: why don’t you make my doctor a Russian speaker …”
Karren Karagulian
Julio O Ramos, originally from Perú, is an Alumni of the Latino Screenwriting Project in San Antonio, sponsored by Sundance, as well as having been involved with the Berlinale Talents Programme at the Berlin Film Festival and the Buenos Aires Talent Programme at BAFICI. He co- wrote ‘DEBRIS’ with a colleague from UCLA, Lucas Mireles from South Texas, who is also the producer. Despite being part- Mexican, Mireles speaks little Spanish. He is a director in his own right and “super talented”, according to Ramos. Like Ramos, he has always been deeply interested in social themes, having made ‘Little Rock’s West 9th Street’ which dealt with the consequences of a disappearing African-American business district, which won an Emmy for ‘Best Editing of a Documentary Feature’. In ‘Debris’, his knowledge of the Construction Business was invaluable to help the authenticity: “He was really resourceful to be honest… very good at helping to build the story as he knew about the technical side.”
Julio O. Ramos
Julio O. Ramos: -
“I’m intrigued and inspired by immigrant’s tales… especially as I’m an immigrant myself. The idea [for this film] comes from a time when a friend of mine was renovating her house, a beautiful place in the valley here in LA. She paid a lot of money to a contractor to carry out the work. Thenm we started to notice things that were irregular, like long-hour days, working over the weekends and different people coming in and out. On one particular occasion, somebody left a note, a handwritten note in Spanish on her door saying that he had not been paid, because the contractor had told him that my friend had not parted with her money yet. So, he was asking to be paid [directly]as he had only come for one day. He left a phone number and begged her to sort it out. So, I talked to the guy, as I speak Spanish & she doesn’t. He was a very nice guy, basically just confirming that he had worked there that one day for which he had not been paid. My friend called the contractor and they insisted it was a misunderstanding and that was the end of it, we never heard about it again. After a few months, out of curiosity, I called the same number and the phone had been disconnected. So we never knew what happened to him… we never had an explanation as to how the contractor was letting this happen. In this way, I started putting together this narrative, in terms of … do we know who are building these beautiful homes in America? … with further research, I stumbled upon labour trafficking that seems to be very common… this short has been doing well, it's been a blessing to be honest… when people are watching it I can feel the tension… I’ve been paying attention to this and I can see how shocked they are at the end! People cannot believe it, and the question that comes up at every Q&A is: does this really happen?”
Both writers found themselves moved by what they were researching into the world of labour trafficking.: -
“We started out with the idea of building a picture of labour trafficking in America. What happens to an illegal construction worker who is trafficked into the USA? What happens if that person gets injured… or incapacitated…? What do the labour traffickers do, you know, in order to recoup their investment? They have equity in this person, so we found ourselves thinking of the most horrendous ideas and scenarios… Would they just abandon the person in the desert and leave them to die? How do you maximize your equity?”
Tenoch Huerta
The unexpected success of the short has wetted their appetite, so now Mireles and Ramos are working on developing the idea into a feature film, judging by the taut storytelling in this short, it is likely that their successes will continue.
Meanwhile, a French company is working on distribution for 2020.
DEBRIS (Desechos) 2017
Dir Julio O. Ramos
Script Julio O. Ramos and Lucas Mireles
Cinematographer Philip Klucsarits
Editor Lucas Mireles
Sound Alex WEiss
Production Lucas Mireles, Julio O Ramos.
Prod Company contact Andinofilms@gmail.com
Cast: Tenoch Huerta, Karren Karagulian, Jorge Díaz, Abraham Luna, Hansel Ramírez and Daniyar (as the Doctor)
