When his grandfather passed away, director Andrés Madrigal felt an urge to pick up his camera and capture every possible moment of that immediate grief. This archival impulse would eventually become Madrigal’s feature debut “Lost Men,” which has its world premiere at the Costa Rica Film Festival.
The intimate doc chronicles Madrigal’s personal family history in the aftermath of the patriarch’s death. The elderly man, who died in a fire in 2019, was married for 57 years in conservative Costa Rica. Following his passing, the director’s father finally shares a long-kept secret: the Madrigal family head was a closeted gay man. Father and son then recollect a life lived in secret as the filmmaker reflects on his own queerness.
Speaking with Variety ahead of the film’s premiere, Madrigal says he first had an impulse to make the film as a way of not losing any more memories of his grandfather. “ A lot of his writings and memories were gone forever,” he adds. “It started with that archival and emotional interest to a personal or mostly a familiar extent. I gradually realized this story was shaping up to be something more and that it almost demanded to be told outside of my nuclear family.”
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Given his desire to bring long-kept family secrets to a very public light, the director and his father spent a long time discussing the logistics and the boundaries of making the film. “This story touches on many family wounds that were reopened after both my grandparents passed away,” he says. “Because of that, I decided to work at a production rhythm that allowed both my father and me not only to make the film, but also to process any feelings that might emerge through the telling of this story.”
“I always referred to the interviews as conversations, and we established ground rules, such as stopping whenever either of us felt the need to,” he notes. “We also approached things gradually, moving from easier topics to more difficult ones. Thankfully, my dad and I already had a very close relationship before making the film, and I think that comes across on screen. We trusted each other deeply throughout the process, and I believe that trust was key to making the film possible.”
While “Lost Men” keeps a tight focus on Madrigal’s personal family history, the documentary also briefly delves into the Costa Rican queer scene, with glimpses of the country’s nightlife and the director’s friend circle. Madrigal wanted to explore themes of “queerness, masculinity and memory” through “the lens of my family first and foremost,” but felt it was important to portray his country’s queer culture because it felt “representative” of him as a character.
“It was a very conscious decision to include footage of San José’s queer nightlife,” he says. “I also included elements of my private queer sphere, such as my friends and my ex-partner. Although these aspects are deeply personal, they also reflect broader dimensions of queer life in Costa Rica,” he goes on, noting that he believes in the maxim of “personal as political” — “In my grandfather’s case, for example, understanding the limitations and complexities of his life also speaks to a broader reality in Costa Rica at the time.”
Asked about the challenges of realizing the film, Madrigal mentions the complexities of “understanding the delicate balance between telling a deeply personal family story with the care and sensitivity it required, while also separating myself enough to gain perspective and evaluate it as I would any other fiction or scripted project I was directing.”
“At the same time, having to both direct the film and include myself as one more character within the story was definitely daunting at first,” he adds. “With the help of Luis Diego Pérez, the film’s editor, we managed to strike that balance between telling a very vulnerable story and remembering that we were ultimately telling it for a broader audience.”
As for the joys of the process, the director recalls the thrills of rediscovering his grandfather’s literary work, as well as tightening his relationship with his family, and forming a close bond with the crew. “There was a great deal of trust between us, and joy and spontaneity were always part of the process. That sense of play became an essential part of how the film was made. I think a lot of the credit for that goes to Sofia Meza Herrera, the film’s producer, who consistently protected and nurtured that atmosphere of safety and care throughout the process.”
Commenting on making “Lost Men” as a Costa Rica-Guatemala co-production, Blue Paradox Films producer Sofía Meza Herrera notes how “lucky” she is to be part of a generation of Central American producers “surrounded by new industry opportunities and great mentors who understand both the challenges of filmmaking and the amazing artistic drive within the isthmus.”
“Our industry has been connecting with each other through film festivals and workshops, networking talents from different generations and having international mentors who put in the effort of understanding the Central American panorama to further strengthen our talent,” she adds. “I’ve grown to believe in Central-American Cinema as an alliance without borders. Creating film in this region is inherently political, and sharing our resources to further our opportunities, talent and audiences is as well.”
“In Central America, there are a lot of stories to be told, but few resources to take them to the big screen,” says Felipon Díaz of Guatemala’s 4:4:4 Televisión. “When I encountered ‘Lost Men,’ I connected with Andrés and Sofía, their beautiful energy and the energy of the project, an intimate and personal story that I found necessary to be told in the current times that we are living.”
“Lost Men” is produced by Madrigal and Meza Herrera’s Blue Paradox Films in co-production with Guatemala’s 4:4:4 Televisión, led by Felipon Díaz. The film was supported by Costa Rica’s El Fondo Fauno and the Netherlands’ Prince Claus Seed Award.
