Stacy Perskie Kaniss interview: ‘Bardo’ producer
“It’s an honor to represent Mexico, particularly in a year with very powerful films,” says producer Stacy Perskie Kaniss, whose Netflix movie “Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,” directed by Oscar winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu, has been selected as the country’s official entry for Best International Feature at the 95th Academy Awards. “The film is a love letter to Mexico and to Mexican identity. There’s a line in the film that says, ‘Mexico is a state of mind.’ I was born and raised in Mexico. It really does feel that way.”
We talked with Perskie Kaniss as part of Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&A event with 2022/2023 awards contenders. Watch our exclusive video interview above.
“Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths” tells the story of Silverio (played by Daniel Giménez Cacho), an acclaimed journalist-turned-documentarian who goes on an oneiric introspective journey to reconcile with the past, the present and his Mexican identity.
“For days after reading the script for the first time, I kept having images stuck in my mind, like no other script I had ever read before,” the producer reveals. “It was incredible. I was very touched by it. Very inspired by it and very moved and excited to be able to be a part of it.”
One scene in particular struck a chord with Perskie Kaniss. “There’s this moment in the film where there’s this caravan of immigrants that is coming down a hill at dawn,” he recalls. “There’s a lot of mist. It’s a huge valley and a long line of cars in traffic that are basically held up by this caravan crossing a highway. Alejanadro has this incredible process of preparation and he had every single frame in his mind. Seeing that shot and that scene come together was unbelievable. It was a beautiful, strong moment and it’s one of my favorites in the film.”
