HFC @ HLFF: Interview with Hannia Yeverino - Writer/Director of Punks

Today, we got the opportunity to speak to Hannia Yeverino about her film Punks, which played this year at the Houston Latino Film Festival. We discussed the process of capturing a specific scene and moment, shedding expectations of films you haven’t made yet, and we even got some Robbie Müller chat in there.

The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

So, Punks was your directorial debut, and you also wrote the film. What's it like walking on set for that first time and realizing, if I want anything to happen, it has to happen because of me?

So, I guess technically it's not my directorial debut. When I was in college, I did direct a short film and a music video and a web series, but I co-directed the web series. It was with very small teams, and we were also all students. There weren't a lot of stakes. It was more just hanging out with friends and doing it. I definitely felt more pressure with Punks because it was my first film outside of college and there was money involved, like we crowd funded. I actually got a second job to fund it. I felt very nervous, and even when we got on set, a lot of the crew I had never worked with. I had never even worked with Bryce (Saucier) or Sarah (Ontiveros), and they are both people that I really admire. Bryce was our DP, Sarah our producer, and I still felt nervous to work with them and look dumb or sound dumb. I tell this to a lot of people that being a director or a producer, you don't have to be the smartest person in the room, you don't have to know everything, but you just have to have the story. You have to understand the story, and you have to know what you want. I'm not always great with, like, technical terms. But I just needed to be confident that I wrote this story and I know what I want the story to be. So despite maybe not knowing as much as other people on set, I really don't think you should be the one who knows everything, or knows it all. You always want to work with the team that can help uplift you as much as you uplift them. I think it's just really having confidence in the story. Working with people that you trust and that they also trust you.

I think one of the most important jobs as a director, really, is surrounding yourself with people that are smarter and more talented that you can just lean on. I'm really interested to find the genesis of the project, what was maybe the initial spark of an idea that you had? 

So I've always known that I wanted to make a coming of age story that I felt represented more me and my friends. I've always just been interested in underground subcultures, you could say maybe it's because I've been a part of them. I love the music but I think what sparked Punks into my head was that I started going to shows early on in college. I went to this festival that I think still happens, called Black and Brown Festival. It was a really hot day, everyone was sweating, there were still so many kids moshing and hitting each other. Some kids even got on, and I just want to say I think you should always respect the venue, but some kid got inside of a trash can, and they were throwing him around. It was just a really beautiful time. It felt like a very joyous moment of people celebrating being black and brown and punk. That was the time where I realized, “Oh, this is the story I've been wanting to tell for a long time.” It’s right in front of me, and thankfully, I've been a part of the community and I know people so why not go ahead and do something that I feel like represents me and some of my friends. 

It's so valuable whenever you're in the scene and the film reflects it. I mean, it's so obvious that you wrote and directed it, and that you've been a part of this scene. How does being in and aware of this specific scene help your writing process? 

I mean, honestly, I had some people before the project got made that have expressed their doubts to how well I can capture a community. It's something that's very close to a lot of people. That's why I've always hesitated to say, “Oh, this is a representation of the Houston punk scene.” Everyone has a different perspective. I wrote my own perspective. But I think everyone that did work on it was somewhat involved in the community, if not fully active in it. I think all of our cast had been involved in the punk community in some way, and our extras just felt the spirit of it. That's why people have told me good things about Punks, even if they're not in that community. We all kind of maybe feel a little bit repressed and I personally admire people who are just very openly expressing themselves and also using their anger. So writing it, I definitely think being a part of it made it easier, but at the same time, it made it challenging in the sense that it's something that's very close to me. I felt pressured to not fuck it up. I felt pressure to not make something that was very stereotypical.

You're an incredibly humanist filmmaker, but what I found very interesting were these moments of surrealism that bleed through occasions, where do you find that line? How do you find those moments where you want to go full natural versus those brief moments of surrealism? 

I appreciate you for saying that, and it's funny because actually one of the feedbacks that my friend gave me was like, “oh, you should stick with either surrealist or humanist.” I think something that I appreciate from a lot of movies that I watch is room to breathe, and that's what I try to apply in my writing. Some room for people to digest everything going on, kind of like a break. Punks is about music and I think films also have a certain rhythm to them, they're like a little song. So I think it's just finding those moments where you could make your audience reflect, or trip your audience out, if you want to. I try to also think about my audience a lot. I think if I was sitting in that movie theater, would I like that? Would I not like that? 

I've always believed that moments of surrealism like that is exactly what you said. It's just a gut feeling.

I agree, I think that's absolutely true. 

You spoke about the rhythm, which I thought was really awesome. There is a rhythm to it, and Punks does one of my favorite things in any kind of movie. It just shows people doing shit, putting down shirts, setting up the stage, getting the venue ready. What was the process of emphasizing that rhythm, or how are you able to find the rhythm that you wanted?

I think, honestly, that was something that was very difficult, and something I didn't really figure out until post-production. I definitely think that really came with the editing and just having a lot of conversations with our editor. Something that I'm learning for my next film is to definitely have the music ahead of time, because it really will help you. Directing actors like movement and pace. But, yeah, it was something we figured out in post production like a music video. Just shoot a bunch of stuff, and then in post production, put it together and figure it out. It was just a lot of trial and error, but I wish I would have done it during production or figured it out beforehand. I think it would have maybe been a little bit cleaner or more intentional. 

I think it works really well, and editing is basically a second version of filmmaking. I think that's just as important as pressing record on the camera. So you did work with an editor, but you were right beside them the entire time?

So, not the entire time. We would have bi-weekly and monthly check-ins. I would just tell him my thoughts, and then we would reconvene and look at the draft and figure out what we can do better. He ended up not being able to work on the project anymore, like during May, so I took a little bit of that editing. It wasn't a drastic kind of thing, just finishing it off. 

It’s interesting that you said that some of the stuff you did in college were short films, but also music videos. It feels like Punks has that real blending of moments of performance and narrative. So you used real bands for this?

We worked with two bands on set. Path of Vengeance, they disbanded but they're really great. Then Fleishwolf, who now go by Means of Destruction, they're still active. I recommend checking them out. We used tracks from an Austin band called Mujeres Podridas, also still active. They've been in the game for a long time. They're really great, I loved seeing all of them perform. Lastly, Margaritas Podridas, they're actually a very well known band from Mexico; I think Tijuana, I could be wrong. I just reached out to their management and asked if he could use the song. It was really great just getting to work with them and something I want to implement in future projects as well, even if I don't have a band on set. 

It aids so much in this blending of genre that you have. It’s almost a documentary, coming of age, slice of life, all sorts of things. Was it difficult for you to balance the tones of the film, either while filming or creating the project? 

I think it's something that happened throughout the process. I definitely wanted this to be a coming of age story, but sometimes when I look at it feels more slice of life, which I don't know if it's truly the same thing. I heard a quote from Guillermo del Toro recently and Gael García [Bernal], the Mexican actor, they said something like not to have expectations for a film because it hasn't been made yet. I expected Punks to be something specific, but it actually turned out to be so many other things. There’s that documentary feel, which, honestly I did not intend. What were some movies that I used as reference? I love Dazed and Confused. I wanted it to be a little bit more lighthearted, but sometimes it did feel a little bit more, I don't know if dance is the right word, but just kind of like actually looking at people. It really happened throughout the process. I think it's, I don't know something that a lot of us should be open to and excited about. Even though there’s a certain vision, sometimes you can grow from that.

Films should be malleable, to an extent. They should have that forming quality. Can you take us through the process of designing the characters? Because when you say the word punk, it's an evocative word. How do you define the look of your characters for this film in order to be true to your experience?

I'm really excited to talk about that. So, we have five characters and again, there's so many differences in the Houston community, or like any punk community, and like anywhere not everyone dresses the same, looks the same, thinks the same. I really tried to emphasize that with our five characters. So Susie (Ahava Ronn) is the girl that’s smoking the cigarette. I really wanted her to be like this beautiful goth queen that comes with her full makeup done to a show, I admire girls like that. Roger (Zac Boyett) I wanted to have a traditional punk vibe, he was wearing his Cro-Mags shirt, and Zac actually does dress like that. Then for Lonely (Penelope Gonzales) I wanted Penelope to represent more the youthful Gen Z casual-indie, an appreciator. Then Muller (Nathaniel Alaniz), the photographer, I was really inspired by a lot hardcore Latino dudes. Very simple vans, long white socks, beanie, California vibes or Bay Area. Then Danny (Drew Hikel) was wearing his Slam Picture shirt, that was his band—he’s more of like a seasoned veteran going to shows. I really try to show different kinds of people that you could run into at a show. 

It came through beautifully, it never loses its aesthetic. I've heard you talk about one thing before, and it really stuck with me. That your influence was from previous generations. Like your parents listening to Depeche Mode, goth rock, and 80s industrial, and how that influenced your sensibilities. I do think that there is a bit of generational storytelling through this film. So was that a conscious thing that you really wanted to show? 

I think I was conscious of it, but not fully aware of the connection that I was making. I was mainly conscious of it because there's a lot of “old heads” that sometimes tend to bully the younger kids. But at the same time, there's also people who are very supportive of the younger generation. They want to carry them through the show, the older hardcore punks. While people always make fun of the 17 year old going to shows, they're the reason why punk is still a thing. No matter how old we get, we need to accept that it was like that for us when we were younger, now, there's a new generation coming in. It's important to foster an environment where they can grow and find themselves. 

I love that you talked about fostering an environment, because that is a prevalent theme throughout your film. There’s a relatability with the environment, and there's also incredible generosity from everyone. It's helping the kid up whenever they fall down, or the act of going to look for a lighter for someone else is an incredibly generous thing. It's these big, kind of scary, hardcore people that are running around and pushing each other together. How do you sort of highlight the dichotomy? 

That's why I love hardcore, that's why I love punk.Some of these lyrics can be very violent or aggressive, but at the end of the day, most people in the community are really kind and supportive. I guess people maybe have a misconception that a lot of people that are into these genres of music are just really angry. A lot of the reason why people, or at least me and my friends got into punk and hardcore, was because even though it does seem like angry music on the outside, it usually comes from a place of anger at the world, and how things are in the world. I think if you care about the world, you are somewhat inclined to be a kind person, or at least someone who gives a damn about what's going on in your community.

I wanted to talk, just briefly, about the look of the film. I love the colors, I love this style of shooting. Did you have any kind of main inspirations for that, or was there someone that you looked toward to kind of capture a style?

I know this movie has gotten really popular in recent years, but it's been my favorite movie since I was 17. I actually have the book for it right next to me, it’s Paris, Texas. I love Robby Müller's work. It's effortless, but also cinematic. It feels very much like he's capturing the essence of life as it is, but it still feels other worldly or dreamy. When I was talking about it to our Director of Photography, Bryce (Saucier), I mentioned Robbie Müller. I showed him a lot of my inspiration and other films that I took a lot of inspo from looks wise. The moshing scenes, it was a lot of The Decline of a Western Civilization. Have you seen it?

Oh no, yeah we're speaking the same language. I have Decline of Western Civilization written down. I love Penelope Spheeris. 

When I met our protagonist, Lonely, played by Penelope, I was like, “whoa, this was destined.” I love Penelope Spheeris, but anyway, I told him to watch The Decline of Western Civilization. So I think between Robby Müller and that film.

Definitely feels like it or like Jim Jarmusch. But of course, Robby Müller does that, and the guy cannot help but paint with light. Everything just looks beautiful. Okay, my last kind of real question. I want to highlight the Houston Latino Film Festival, so I guess this is kind of a double whammy. What does it mean for you to have a film festival like the Houston Latino Film Festival, and then what does it mean for you to have Punks show at the festival?

Honestly, I think we're very blessed to have the Houston Latino Film Festival. I don't say that lightly, and I was talking about this with someone. Sometimes like, when you're in film, it's easy to like, “Oh, look at what I did. Look at what my work did.” I'm not saying this about anyone specific, it's just how it is. It's really an industry where you need to put yourself out there and prioritize your work, your events, your stuff. But I feel like for them, I really see that they genuinely care about the filmmakers that they support. Not only that, but they keep up with you throughout the years. With Pedro and Dave (co-founders of the festival), I've stayed in contact with them since I showed as a student, and I know they do that with a lot of other filmmakers too. They stay in contact, they remember your name, and that means a lot to me…They connect with your film as people, and they really do care about seeing you grow. Pedro told me, “Wow, you've grown so much since the film you showed here” and that meant a lot to me because I was like, “he remembers.” That's not something a lot of people do or, especially people that are working with a lot of filmmakers. It was just very special to show Punks there, because they're my favorite. The community is awesome. I think the people that show up to Latino Film Fest are really great. My film was shown at the Houston Latino Film Festival, and it just felt validating to know that my experience as a Mexican American woman is seen and heard. It's not any less, and I think it's just really great to have those spaces. I think as movie people, we should continue to show up, because that's how they keep running. 

Awesome, do you have any upcoming projects that you're doing?

Yeah, so I want to shoot a short film this summer. I feel like I don't really have a lot to show for with my directing experience. So, I actually want to tap into the surrealist more. I’m making a short film about a model that wants to leave home to pursue her career,and I plan on making it with what I can. I have another script that is also related to themes of home, but that one's probably going to have to wait until I'm able to crowdfund. I also would love to direct more music videos. It's something that I wanted to tap into as well. 

You can follow Hannia’s journey and the journey of Punks on Instagram at both @cactuswaterr & @punks.film

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