Aside
Victoriano
The patriarch of the Arisapana family, Victoriano swells with pride when describing his role as Bridge Master. He smiles through broken teeth, stained by coca leaves, and tells the story of his ancestors using the bridge to escape from the Spanish conquistadors. His body bears the marks of rough living in a hard place, but he doesn’t begrudge the bridge the toll it’s taken on him. Victoriano knows the Apu, the mountain spirit of the bridge, watches over those who honor it, protects those who follow the traditions. He raised his children to pay tribute to the Q’eswachaka Apu, though his sons have long since followed the bright lights of possibility to the big city. But he clings to his belief that this land has a hold on them, and that no matter where they go, his children will return to him and to their bridge.
Vidal
Victoriano’s eldest can pull his weight on the farm, but his heart is with his music. Unlike his father, Vidal not only finished high school, but continued studying, moving to Lima to take additional classes, find work and play with his band. His life is full and his art takes him around the country performing raucous Quechua dance music to packed out crowds of his fellow Andean wanderers. He sends money home and returns when he can, to give his father a hand with the crops and tease his little sister, but for Vidal, the village doesn’t have enough to offer.
Ruth Laurita
Under her downturned dark eyes and her meek exterior, Victoriano’s teenage daughter has a fiery nature. When Ruth Laurita was young, her mother and stepfather sent her to the city to work in a juice shop. After two years of verbal and physical abuse, the resourceful 12-year-old hopped a bus back to her remote village and moved in with her father. Victoriano was overjoyed and immediately enrolled her in school, where she has been studying hard to make up for lost time. She has built a life here, yet her fierce spirit bristles at the limitations that surround her. Ruth Laurita knows that in spite of being the only one of his children to stay by Victoriano’s side, the mountain spirits would never allow a woman to weave the bridge. This simple farm has been a haven for Ruth Laurita the last few years, but can it offer her a future?
Yuri
Victorianos’ second son had no idea that the bridge weaver down the mountain was his father until he graduated from high school. On the outside, Yuri is a tough ladies’ man, working hard to make it big in the city. But underneath he struggles with a profound insecurity in a strained relationship with a father he never knew as a child. In spite of the thinly veiled bitterness Yuri feels for him, Victoriano claims Yuri, the “most macho” of his boys, should be the one to follow him as Bridge Master.
Elisa Stone
Producer / Director / Cinematographer
Elisa is a Peruvian-American independent filmmaker who was raised in Peru. She studied film in Vancouver, B.C. where she co-founded Noonday Films. Her company has produced award-winning documentaries about guerrilla gardening in Vancouver, B.C., children with HIV/AIDS in Honduras (Crystal Heart Award, Heartland Film Festival), and elderly activists in the United States (DER Award, Hot Docs Festival).
The Bridge Master’s Daughter was born out of Elisa’s deep love of Peru and her passion for the stories of her people. As a Peruvian women Elisa has been allowed access to a significant aspect of Andean culture, which has been reflected in the intimacy of the shooting for this film.
In 2014, Elisa produced a video on the Qeswachaka bridge for the Smithsonian’s exhibition, “The Great Inka Road: Engineering an Empire.” Her bridge footage has been broadcast on Discovery Science and TVPERU.
Matthew Leahy
Producer / Director / Editor / Writer
Matthew studied film in Vancouver, BC and is now based in Columbus, OH. His company Noonday Films has been filming and producing documentaries and commercial video for 8 years.
The documentary he produced, directed and edited, MONTAÑA DE LUZ (a film about a home in Honduras for children with HIV/AIDS) won the Crystal Heart Award at the Heartland Film Festival and is currently being distributed by Icarus Films. His short documentary OLD RADICALS premiered at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto and won the DER Award in the International Documentary Challenge. It was also broadcast on the Documentary Challenge.
Matthew has been working on The Bridge Master’s Daughter for the last three years with his partner and co-director, Elisa Stone Leahy.
Fernanda Rossi
Writer
Internationally renowned writer and speaker Fernanda Rossi has collaborated in more than 500 fiction scripts, documentaries, proposals and fundraising samples. Two documentaries were nominated for the Academy Award®, and another was nominated for Best Script for the Wildscreen Panda Awards. Many others screened and were awarded at festivals such as IDFA, Hot Docs, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Sundance, DOCNYC and broadcast on PBS, HBO and BBC. The treatments she has written won funding from ITVS, NYSCA and the National Film Board of Canada.
Fernanda Rossi has given her signature seminars on story structure, proposals and demos in more than 15 countries for over 40 film organizations, festivals and markets. In addition, she is a trainer and mentor for special programs and a grant evaluator for foundations. Her book Trailer Mechanics: How to Make Your Documentary Fundraising Demo (2nd Edition) is, according to industry professionals, the bible on demo production.
Naomi Rossman
Colorist
Naomi Rossman is an award winning graduate of Columbus College of Art and Design. With her degree in Cinematic Arts Naomi has versatile skill sets in lighting, color grading, and post production.
Adam Rich
Sound
Adam Rich is an audio engineer working in Athens, Ohio.
Bestor Cram
Northern Light Productions / Co-Producer
Northern Light Productions is one of New England’s premiere film and video production companies. Its productions include include motion picture installations for museums and visitor centers, work for broadcast and independent projects. Our client list includes the Smithsonian Institution, National Park Service, NASA, International Spy Museum, New England Aquarium, History Channel, WGBH, Jimmy Carter National Historic Site and many others. Presentations include audio/video environments for the Smithsonian’s African Voices Exhibit and Minuteman National Park, as well as critically acclaimed documentaries for Guildford County Courthouse in North Carolina, the Johnston Ridge Observatory at Mount St. Helens, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, and the El Portal Tropical Forest Center in El Yunque, Puerto Rico. Our productions have been broadcast on public and cable television, including PBS’ American Experience.
