We were lucky to catch up with Emilia Mendieta Córdova recently and have shared our conversation below.
Emilia, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I was brought up to believe that I could be anyone I wanted to be and do anything I wanted to do as long as I took it seriously and put in the work. So in a way, I always saw challenges as part of the journey and I made myself really understand what it would really take to do what I want to do. I don’t like living with regrets and I firmly believe that I would rather try something and fail at it than never have tried it at all. And I also think that I’ve been really fortunate in finding my true north in my career early on – I’m really clear on where I want to be and what I want to do – so making sure that I’m heading in that general direction no matter what gets thrown at me makes things simpler (in a way). So I think when I hit potholes on the road, or get knocked down, or sent down detours I always tell myself – okay, how do I patch the tire, get back up or navigate back to the main road. The road to where you want to be is never smooth – but if that’s where you want to be, you keep trucking along. I think this is what people see my “resilience” as – and to me, as long as I’m still moving and still know what I want, I’m going to keep going.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m a Director of Photography (or Cinematographer) and I like to say we’re the guardians of the image. We are in charge of helping the director of a film develop the visual language of the project. We plan the evolution of the color palette, camera movement, composition, and lighting. We help create the shot list and we oversee 3 departments on set: camera, grip, and lighting. So in short, I help translate the director’s vision into a moving image. I am heavily involved in the creative decisions but I make technical decisions based on what the director wants to achieve.
I absolutely love it because that marriage of the creative and the technical side of the art of filmmaking is super exciting. It’s always a beautiful puzzle I get to solve to help tell a story visually.
I’ve shot 3 feature films, a bunch of short films, and almost 20 music videos throughout my career so far. I’m currently working on a short that I’m super excited about that we’ll be shooting in early March. In addition to that I have a short DIVINE MOTHER that is currently doing the festival rounds and another short C.U.L.T. which is in post-production.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
This is a pretty hard question! I think 3 qualities or skills that have been impactful in my journey are:
- Resilience – We talked about resilience earlier but I think that it’s really important because the film industry is actually really hard to break into and really hard to even survive in at times. What I’d say to anyone looking to work in film is to know that it is going to be a rough road for a bit until you find your footing. Success is possible, but overnight success in this industry is a myth. What many don’t see is the often years of work everyone puts in before they “make it”. What I would also say to that is – don’t let that discourage you. Just know it’s going to take a hot second before things take off. And sometimes that means just staying in the game. In addition to that I would also say to make sure you’re checking in with yourself and where you’re at. I’ve had to take full time jobs in order to recover financially and emotionally. Making decisions that prioritize your wellbeing and survival is an important and necessary part of the journey. And as soon as you’re in a good place again, you should ask yourself if you want to continue on that journey or not too. Resilience is not just about toughing it out, but making mindful and conscious choices that help you get to where you want or need to be.
- Patience – Things rarely happen on the timeline that we want them to happen in. I think being patient with yourself, those around you, and the world does wonders for dealing with a lot of the challenges that get thrown your way.
- Compassion – As an industry that trades in stories, it also irrevocably trades in emotions. Emotions are just part of what we do. And the industry tends to attract people who are really passionate. That passion and those emotions can be good – they can be channelled into telling a really extraordinary story. However, they can also cause a lot of friction sometimes. Having compassion and empathy for not only your collaborators but yourself goes a long way in this industry.
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
I don’t think there’s one specific person that I could say has been the most helpful in helping me overcome challenges or build and develop essential skills, qualities, or knowledge but a whole group of people – my teachers and mentors throughout the years. I know that sounds really broad but I think I learned different skills from different teachers and activities I’ve done throughout my life. For example, I learned diplomacy from 6 years of participating in Model United Nations in high school, or patience from my design and art teacher (also from high school). My cello teacher in college taught me discipline. My fencing coaches taught me how to strategize. A lot of my film teachers have emphasized compassion and empathy. As I reflect back on my life, I’ve been really fortunate to have been the student of mostly really amazing teachers that taught me skills beyond the subjects they were teaching me and I’m really grateful for that.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.emiliamendieta.com
- Instagram: @emi_mendieta
Image Credits
Ino Yang Popper Cheryl Young Laura Hunter Drago
