JV Hernández Talks About "Heirs of the Family"

Please start by telling us a bit about yourself. How did you learn filmmaking, and where does Heirs of the Family stand in your body of work?

As far as I can remember I have always loved movies, I started making videos with my friends in our last years of high school, just playing around and having fun, learning about the process on my own either by watching movies or video essays on youtube, talking about movies on my social media, until the opportunity of actually studying film production at the Vancouver Film School came to my door. Heirs of the Family stands as my very first big project as a Director, my first professionally made short film, a film very close to my heart.

Which works most influenced you in creating Heirs of the Family?

I’ve always loved crime dramas and thrillers, one movie that comes to mind when I think of influences for this would be Michael Mann’s Heat, that famous scene of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino or the restaurant scene in The Godfather with Michael Corleone and Sollozzo, the moment Michael becomes a real gangster, those would be the most prominent examples that influenced Heirs of the Family.

How did the idea for Heirs of the Family come about, and what steps did you take to arrive at the final version of the script?

I wanted to make a gangster story, but I wasn’t allowed to use blood or guns for safety and monetary reasons and due to the limitations that I had, I decided to focus on dialogue and performance in a confined setting instead of graphic violence, which is usually what those type of stories are known for, I thought that not only would allow me to write and direct a Gangster film, but it would also help to differentiate it from other films of the same genre.

In general, what kinds of ideas capture your attention the most?

I like the idea of two opposing characters having a conversation that feels tense, that you feel like in any minute someone could pull a gun to the other, so once I had that I started to think about the characters, what kind of persons they are, and existing characters that I felt gave me the vibe I was looking for, so I had the idea of “what if Sonny Corleone had an argument with the fusion between Roman Roy from Succession and Kim Wexler from Better Call Saul”, then basically everything else wrote itself.

How did you find the two female actors for your film?

Originally, I had the idea of both characters being men, but then I thought that would make it pretty much like every other story on this genre so I came up with making it ambiguous for the casting, since this was a collaborative project I didn’t know who was gonna be casted, my job was to adapt my story to the actors and help them bring the best of them to the film and the moment Ora and Sydney were cast I didn’t knew it back them, but I struck gold, I setted up individual meetings with each of them to get to know them, their individual approach to a character and who they were as people so I would know how to properly communicate with each of them to get the best out of both, then a general meeting with both of them for rehearsal and to discuss the production as a whole, they’re insanely talented and very professional, I couldn’t be happier to have them on my film.

Please tell us about the advantages and challenges of filmmaking in a confined setting.

Advantages would be that you have a little more control over lights and camera setups since the set is built according to your story, there are less distractions for the actors and the crew and personally it helps when you want focus on the actors performances when your doing close ups, the challenges would be the accuracy of a location when your building a set to make it look real, there is less space to move around and after a few hours you definitely need to get out and get some air.

Which filmmakers have had the greatest impact on you? Which filmmakers do you feel a connection with?

I wouldn’t be here without the work of Steven Spielberg, he’s always been my biggest inspiration as well as Martin Scorsese, Richard Linklater, John Carney, Damien Chazelle, Sean Baker and many others, the thing that makes me relate to someone’s work is their ability to perfect a style of their own and being able to replicate it on different genres to show their range when it comes to storytelling, because that is something that I aspire to do on my future work.

If you were to remake Heirs of the Family today, what changes would you make?

I would probably try to improve the production design, since I feel like that is something that even when it works, could’ve been done better and would use different camera equipment, when we shot this our crew used a Sony FS7 but since shooting Heirs of the Family we have learned to use more modern and more industry standard equipment like an ARRI Alexa Mini LF so, probably I would like to use that if a remake was in my future, but I feel too proud of this project and the story as it is.

Do you think audiences understand the concept and message of Heirs of the Family?

I hope they do, I really hope they like it, this is a film that I’m very proud of, was a great experience and making it was one of my favorite moments of last year, I already feel very honored to be among the many talented filmmakers around the world at the Roma Short Film Festival, this is our European premiere and hearing back from them is something I’m looking forward to.

In general, how do you assess the impact of film festivals on the visibility of short films?

I believe that film festivals are an essential part of the filmmaker’s journey, it's a great opportunity to not just show your work to an audience, but to network and get to know future colleagues if you have the chance of actually attending the festival, but even you only send your film to an international festival it's a great opportunity to receive feedback from an audience from a different culture and perspective.

Your film is also noteworthy for its cinematography. Please tell us about your visual strategies.

I knew I wanted a neo-noir type of aesthetic for the look of the film so I talked with my director of photography Adrian Popowich about the mood and tone the story needed, an atmosphere that feels warm with yellows and oranges as leading colors, but also tense and suspenseful with reds and blues for highlights, something to complement the visual motifs I had in mind on my shot list, and I couldn’t be happier with the results, Adrian exactly we needed.

What will your next project be like? Are you interested in making more short films?

Right now I’m in the process of pre production for a music video, music has always been a big part of my life just like film so I want to keep finding opportunities to work on both, I’m also planning on shooting another short film based on a script I’ve been working on about my own personal experiences as an immigrant from El Salvador here in Canada. It’s something very close to my heart, and I hope to bring it to life soon.

In closing, if there’s anything you’d like to emphasize, we’re eager to hear it.

I just want to express how grateful I am for this interview and the interest the Roma short film festival has shown for my film, as aspiring filmmakers, this is exactly what we aspire, an opportunity to show an audience our stories and what we can do, I’m honored to be among the many talented filmmakers from around the world at the festival and can not wait to see their work.