The Embrace of a Bird

Directed by Vange Tapia & Sofia Ayerdi. 13min 14sec

*SOFIA AYERDI*
Young talented rising filmmaker from Mexico, who produces, writes and directs. She is an alumna of the Gold Rising Program of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was chosen as a trophy presenter at the 2022 Oscars.
She is a member of Blackmagic Design’s Blackmagic Collective and was part of the First Frame Initiative for emerging directors.

She’s also a fellow for the Netflix-sponsored LALIFF Inclusion Fellowship, Hola Mexico Film Festival alumna of the Tomorrow’s Filmmakers today and she was selected as one of the mitú x Walmart Filmmaker Mentorship Program.

Her short films have been selected and recognized at several festivals.

*VANGE TAPIA*
Multilingual Actress, VO talent, TV Host and Producer from Mexico City. She’s fluent in English, Spanish & French, plus speaks conversational Italian.

She started producing short films (written, directed, edited and performed by her) for family and friends but never in a professional level, until “The Embrace of a Bird”. her most personal project based on real life-events, that she wrote, produced, performed in addition to co-directed with Sofia Ayerdi.

Vange has performed in several TV and radio spots, TV series, films and theater as well as she has dubbed films and television for both Mexico and the US.

She began her career as a teenager with a series of award-winning TV commercials where she delivered a series of 30 second monologues for national television which gave her critical acclaim and introduced her to the Film, Television and Voice Over industry.

She went on to book a lead role in the TV series “Hora Marcada” – Episode: “No Returnable” with both Academy Award winners Director Alfonso Cuarón and Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki.

Achieving clarity of her two passions – travel and performing – Vange found a great opportunity to combine both professions as on-camera host and writer in Spanish and English for the Travel Channel Online for Brand USA/Discover America (Now “Visit the USA”).

Inspired by her travel hosting experience and the work she created, Vange founded the collective “Actors S/ash”, a community of international and local talent in Hollywood with multi-s/ash filmmakers in collaboration with other fellow creative minds in the entertainment Industry.

Actors S/ash has since blossomed; hosting mixers, summits, organizing workshops, co-host festivals and putting filmmakers in touch with major studios. Vange has hosted screenings and panels at cultural venues such as the CCCM (Cultural Center of Cinematic Arts) located at the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles, and at International Film and Theater festivals where she has been invited as a Jury, Community Outreach, Supporting Organization & Co-producer.

Director Statement

While I’ve filmed a few experimental and personal projects for family and friends, “The Embrace of a Bird” represents my very first professional production. It was first taken by a few different directors to be part of it. The story is so rich that was rapidly transformed into different narratives and directions, versions away from my original experience and vision if we take to the account that the story is based in real life events that happened to me. The pandemic also was a factor that prevented me from developing it and filming it.

I admit that I procrastinated for a long time until finally I decided to take the project back to my hands and to lead it until its final cut and post-production, exactly the way I envisioned it.

With a crew of only five members (including Emmy award-winner, sound recordist, Alexadra Parral) and three professional actors including myself, we finally shot it outdoors in two days with an iPhone 15 pro and a Blackmagic app installed on the phone. No gaffer. Only natural daylight.

Post-production and more support came a couple of months later, after others read the script and saw the shot list and the material filmed. Hispanic leading studios such as Trulove Post and ArtZun Studio as well as Hollywood renowned Spanish composer Pancho Burgos-Goizueta believed in the project and gave their heart and soul to put together this important and personal project for me.

The vast collaboration that joined this project made it a multicultural and multi-production with talent and filmmakers from the US, México, Argentina, Spain and Algeria.

AS A WRITER of this story based on my own personal true events, expressing in paper such an intimate moment was rather relieving.

AS A PRODUCER and DIRECTOR of this short, it was a catharsis to bring “The Embrace of a Bird” to life. It was so rewarding finding the right actors and crew who believed, supported and joined the journey.

AND AS AN ACTRESS, to recreate the real me in a form of a scripted character and to emotionally detach myself from it, was a necessity. So, I cut my hair 12″, I created fictional characters based on the originals, and I modified the narrative.

AS A CO-DIRECTOR. At the time of shooting, I just wanted to focus on my performance and to feel from a different perspective without having to think in the directorial aspect, so I asked Sofía Ayerdi to co-direct with me.
She totally captured the essence of the narrative from the moment I approached her.

While she understood and respected the script without losing sight of my vision, she was instrumental in sharpening it.
She embarked in the pre-production process with me from the very beginning.