By Camie Fenton
The intersection of literature and cinema will take center stage as acclaimed filmmaker Soco Aguilar joins the 20th San Miguel Writers' Conference & Literary Festival, running February 12-16, to share her expertise in narrative storytelling.
Aguilar, whose animated feature "La Leyenda de la Nahuala" earned Mexico's Ariel Award and maintains its popularity on Netflix, spawning a Disney-acquired series, will lead two intensive masterclasses: "Once Upon a Script: It All Begins with the Story" and "Plot, Character, Dialogue: The Trinity of Great Screenplays." Each three-hour workshop bridges the gap between written and visual storytelling.
"While every medium has its own unique demands, screenwriting presents distinct challenges," Aguilar explained, speaking from her colonial-styled home in San Miguel. "In a novel, you have pages to explore a character's inner world. In a screenplay, while powerful dialogue drives the story forward, everything must ultimately be revealed through action—the character's choices, their physical movements, their interactions. Both what your characters say and what they do work in concert to create the magic of visual storytelling."
And, Aguilar says that, unlike a novel's flowing prose, a screenplay is a precise technical document—typically 100 to 120 pages of scene headers, dialogue, and descriptive action, telling the filmmakers exactly what needs to happen and when.
Currently, Aguilar is developing "Amalia," a feature film she co-wrote, while simultaneously producing and directing a feature documentary about celebrated U.S. author and San Miguel resident Sandra Cisneros.
Her filmmaking journey began in her early twenties with "No Turning Back" (1994), documenting the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas and securing an exclusive interview with movement leader Subcomandante Marcos.
Her connection to Cisneros traces back to San Francisco through her mentor, the late documentary pioneer Lourdes Portillo.
"Lourdes was my beloved friend and an extraordinary human who left myriad marks through filmmaking and social activism," Aguilar told The Hollywood Reporter. Portillo's "The Devil Never Sleeps" — Aguilar's first feature documentary project — was recognized by The New Yorker as one of 62 films that shaped documentary filmmaking.
The workshops, conducted in Spanish, draw from Aguilar's experience producing for PBS, BBC, Discovery Channel, and Universal Pictures, as well as eight years teaching production and screenwriting at Monterrey Institute of Technology. The sessions highlight the festival's anniversary programming, which features over 50 authors and industry professionals.
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