Episode 04: Off the Road with José Permar and Daniela Silva
In this episode, we feature a conversation with the director and producer of Off the Road (2020), which is set to premiere at Visions du Réel. Off the Road is a genre-blending documentary film set in a remote town in Baja, California, Mexico, following locals preparing for the Baja 1000 - the world's biggest off-road motorsport race that passes through their small village.
José Permar, the director, was born in South Baja California, Mexico. He studied Audiovisual Arts at the University of Guadalajara and is a recipient of the Ariel, the national film prize for his short documentary Aurelia y Pedro (2016), which was also nominated for a Student Oscar Academy Award and received a special mention at the Berlin International Film Festival. His producing partner, Daniela Silva, is also from Mexico and is the co-founder and producer at the audiovisual cooperative Tardigrada. Both Jose and Daniela are currently part of DocNomads, the EU-funded master’s program in Documentary Filmmaking.
In this thoughtful exchange with Docs in Orbit contributor Alexandra Yakovleva, they discuss how this film started and the journey it took to completion.
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ABOUT THE DIRECTOR / José Permar
José Permar was born in South Baja California, Mexico. He graduated in Audiovisual Arts at the University of Guadalajara. Permar won an Ariel for his documentary short film Aurelia y Pedro (2016), for which he was nominated for a Student Oscar Academy Award, also winning a special mention at the Berlinale 2016. His previous shorts have screened at Shorts Mexico, Morelia International Film Festival, Sao Paulo, and Beijing Film Academy’s IFSVF, among others. Off the Road is his debut feature.
ABOUT THE PRODUCER / Daniela Silva
Daniela is a Mexican director and producer who graduated from the University of Audiovisual Media in Guadalajara. Her documentary, Where Things Remain (2018) premiered in Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG) and is currently being distributed by Amazon. She is co-founder and producer at the audiovisual cooperative Tardigrada and currently pursuing a Master’s in Documentary Filmmaking through DocNomads, a mobile film school funded by the European Union.