Alexandra Hidalgo

The camera is intimidating, but it’s an unparalleled way to capture the world. I have spent hundreds of hours behind and in front of the camera and may yet spend hundreds more. The best part about making films, however, is not the medium but getting to collaborate with people whose work you’re in love with and whose ideas make your soul sing. For me, filmmaking is all about the creative friendships. Although it’s exhausting to juggle the million intricate pieces of a film, those friendships make it all worthwhile, and then some..

Alexandra and Yarima Hidalgo looking into a film camera on a stand, smiling.

Films

All the Love!

On my YouTube channel, I analyze big-hearted books, movies, and TV. The content I choose to cover puts feelings first and has an optimistic bend. That doesn’t mean it won’t make you cry. It means it’s safe to cry because at the end of the day these works deliver, if not in happy endings, at least growth for their characters. There might be pain and loss, but they help transform those who endure them (the characters) and those who care about them (the audience).

A Family of Stories

In 1983, Miguel Hidalgo, a Venezuelan writer and inventor, disappeared in the Amazon, leaving behind his six-year-old daughter. Now a writer and filmmaker, she returns to her homeland after decades living in the US to investigate his vanishing. Her life is transformed as she untangles the mystery of his absence and figures out why her MIT-educated father with a genius IQ ended up buying gold in the Amazon. As she uncovers secrets about him, her family, and herself she must face the fact that she based her identity on a mirage her ancestors created. Having completed her quest, she starts over, aware of how her past shaped her but ready to move beyond the wounds she carried since childhood. We have decided to shelve the film for the time being. We may release it someday. If we do, we’ll announce it here.

Teta

In Teta, Alexandra Hidalgo tells the story of her journey nursing her youngest son, Santiago, for twenty-two months. The film shows Santiago from his first nursing session minutes after birth to his last as a toddler. It illustrates the transcendent emotional bond created by nursing, not only between mother and child but the entire family. It has been the official selection at 30 film festivals in 13 countries and received 8 film festival awards.

Click on the link below to watch the film on YouTube. You can also watch the trailer here.

You can also watch the Spanish version of the film here.

Vanishing Borders

This feature documentary showcases the lives of four immigrant women living in New York City, who transform their communities with their work. The film provides a personal and complex portrayal of immigration, contrasting with the abstract and generalized representations often found in the mainstream media. It has been the official selection at 11 film festivals and 7 universities, received 5 film festival awards, and been featured on multiple press outlets.