A Place of Absence
Logline
A PLACE OF ABSENCE follows filmmaker Marialuisa Ernst’s search to find meaning and connection with Anita and Leticia, two Central American women traveling to Mexico as part of the Caravan of Mothers of Missing Migrants. As the group searches for sons and daughters who vanished en route to the U.S., Marialuisa draws parallels to the emotional turmoil her own mother experienced in the aftermath of her uncle’s disappearance during Argentina’s ‘Dirty War.'
Marialuisa Ernst
Director, Producer
Marialuisa Ernst is an award-winning, South American filmmaker based in New York. During the span of her 20-year career, she has exhibited her work at over 30 international film festivals and won Best Film at the Ajijic International Cinema Festival for the short, MY PLACE BY THE WIND. Additionally, she’s been endorsed by several vanguard institutions—including El Museo del Barrio, Cinema Tropical, Film Archives NYC, El Centro Cultural, and The Goethe Institute. Ernst has a BA in film from UNICEN University of Bolivia and was trained as an interdisciplinary artist at UNIACC in Santiago, Chile.
Erik Shirai
Director of Photography
Erik Shirai is a New York City-based director and cinematographer working around the world on renowned documentaries, TV shows, and commercials. He recently won Special Jury Mention for Best Documentary Director at Tribeca Film Festival for his feature film THE BIRTH OF SAKÉ. The film also won Best Documentary Film at the 2016 Palm Springs International Film Festival and was an Official Selection at San Sebastian Film Festival. He honed his skills as cinematographer for the Emmy Award-winning series NO RESERVATIONS with Anthony Bourdain.
Coti Donoso
Editor
Coti Donoso is a psychologist and audiovisual communicator as well as a film editor of documentaries since 1996, working with renowned Chilean directors. From 1999 to 2009, she performed the editing on various documentary series for Chilean TV as well as editing documentaries on literary authors. The films MY GRANDFATHER ALLENDE (recent winner of the Cannes Film Festival), CHILDREN OF PARADISE, THE LAST FOOTPRINT, MANY MILLIONS OF YEARS, SILENT WITNESS, SOUTH PALESTINE, THE MOVING, GENOVEVA, among others, are part of her job as a film editor.
Nora Poggi
Associate Producer
Nora Poggi is a French journalist and the director/producer of the award-winning documentary SHE STARTED IT. She was also a reporter in Silicon Valley for Examiner.com & Usine Nouvelle. She is a TEDx speaker and has been featured in Women In The World, Forbes, Fast Company, Glamour, Huffington Post and other outlets.