“Roads of Fire”, a documentary by Nathaniel Lezra, explores the harsh realities of forced migration. The film follows three interconnected stories: a human smuggler guiding refugees through the dangerous Darién Gap, an asylum seeker’s experiences in New York City, and the tireless work of volunteers responding to this humanitarian crisis.
Thank you so much for taking time for this interview! Congratulations on not being afraid to take on such important global issues and subjects. Before we dig in, our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?
I got my start after graduating from film school in 2013. I started freelancing in production as quickly as I possibly could, I needed to pay rent and was also eager to cultivate as many relationships as possible. As I was doing that, I was shooting narrative short films on weekends. As my production work started to coincide with my creative work – I had started field producing shoots for LA based documentary houses – I got a tiny indie narrative feature film I’d written financed on a low level. The budget was nothing, but it was just enough to put a film together with my friends. That film did well on the mid-level festival circuit and sold, and that gave me a small jolt of momentum I was able to expand on gradually. I pivoted to focusing on documentary filmmaking because it had been the space in the industry in which I’d been able to work most consistently, so I was developing my filmmaking literacy in that context.
Around the 2016 inauguration I did my first short doc, examining the street protests on inauguration day. In the process of putting together that small film, I fell completely in love with verité doc storytelling. Spending time with people I’d never thought I’d communicate with, walking with military personnel, people across the political spectrum, it opened my eyes to the power of on the ground experiential doc filmmaking. Growing as a doc filmmaker has been my priority ever since.
Congratulations on all of your recent and upcoming philanthropic projects? Can you tell us more about “Roads of Fire” and what it means to you?
“Roads of Fire” is an examination of migration in the western hemisphere, the impact the process has on the people who flee their homes out of mortal necessity and desperation, and the subsequent impact on cities in the United States and beyond. It’s also a portrait of a clash of American bureaucracies, organisms that work at odds with one another and are used as tools in the political squabbles of American politicians, all while leaving migrants and refugees vulnerable and exploited.
More than much of that though, “Roads of Fire” is the story of a handful of incredible people I met in New York and Colombia. Maria Pascal, an Ecuadorian asylum seeker, and her kids became close friends as we told the story of her asylum journey in New York City. The same goes for the people at the NGOs. These are people who have put absolutely everything on the line to support those who are now in the crosshairs of a hostile administration and are extremely vulnerable. It was an honor being there to witness their work.
Can you share the most interesting story that has happened to you since you started working in the entertainment industry?
Working with refugees on the beaches of Necoclí, Colombia. Being invited into their spaces, sitting and hearing their stories, engaging in intimate personal conversations about their lives and the circumstances in their countries was an experience I’ll never forget.
What kinds of feedback to you get from your thought provoking films? Does it ever cause stress for you?
I get a mixed range of responses. Mostly I find that people are eager to see stories that don’t shy away from the realities of peoples’ experiences, that really place the viewer on the ground with them. My style of filmmaking emphasizes an experiential approach, where the viewer is walking the exact walk of the participants, so they get an almost sensory understanding of what people are going through. I don’t find that I worry about peoples’ reception to the films as I’m making them, mainly because I find the stories themselves so compelling, and I have such a strong relationship with the participants. People are engaging, especially when they’re bringing you into a world you’ve never seen before or experienced. I find that viewers enjoy that ride, even if it takes them to uncomfortable places politically or emotionally.
Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
My creative partners Malcolm and Ben. Mal is an industry veteran as a producer, Ben is our editor and someone I’ve known since childhood. We forged our creative relationship in earnest on a doc we did examining the mental health condition of Ukrainian teenage refugees fleeing combat. I brought the idea to Mal, who then lined up a pitch to Paramount and we got the piece set up with them. I was able to bring Ben on as we began production, and the result is a project that really established us. We’ve duplicated that model on every subsequent project, and I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished. I owe everything to them.
From your experience, what are a few ideas that we can use to effectively offer support to others who want to work in the entertainment industry?
Easier and faster pathways to getting young people on set as freelancers. Everyone I know who has a career in entertainment – mostly physical production people, granted – started by getting on set and then riding the momentum of those early jobs into more, and better projects. When I talk to film students, I’m often struck by a general lack of clarity about how to get to that starting point. The reality is, the film community and industry is entirely reliant on the labor of those young people fighting to get into the business. A pitch could be for more interaction between the film schools, studios, and production companies so that there are more briefs and on-set job postings going out to film schools or social media forums where young people look for opportunities.
People should be positioned so that they’re walking away with a thesis film made, yes, but also an immediate on-ramp into freelancing so they can pay the rent quickly out of school and start building the relationships that will yield their careers. I also think studios and production companies should invest way more in non-film school engagement. Local programs that increase access to those same on-set jobs for people who don’t have the resources for film school, are local to the city where productions are happening, and are eager to work. High schools, state or city colleges, community programs, after school programs, recruitment centers, these are all places that people look for work or for ways to spend their time. It would be a massive step in the right direction to make access to on-set training and work start in those spaces.
Can you please give us your favorite ”Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Just Keep Moving. It’s a phrase I heard a lot when I was in India recently – granted I heard it in Hindi and Just Keep Moving is the translation – but as my friends and I laughed about it, it struck me how that’s sort of the governing principle of my entire professional life, and the professional lives of many of the people I know in the business. Just Keep Moving. Always have a few projects cooking, a few different scripts, a few different lines out on production jobs, a few different pitches on deck.
How can our readers follow you online?
Instagram: @natlezrafilm Websites: Lezra Films and Roads Of Fire
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