There are two sides to every story, and filmmaker Natalia Almada wants to tell them both. Considering her bicultural background, it is not surprising that she is drawn to stories that involve duality at some level. Born in Mexico to an American mother and a Mexican father, she has spent her life splitting her time between the two countries — an experience that has influenced her both as a person and as an artist. “I am an insider and an outsider in both places,” she says. Through photography (she received an MFA in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design) and documentary filmmaking, she has learned to use her unique perspective to explore the subjectivity of experience, and the differences and similarities between people and cultures.

Memory is one concept Natalia examines in her work that touches on these issues; it was a central theme in her first film, All Water Has a Perfect Memory, which was an official selection at Sundance in 2002. Based on the real-life drowning of Natalia’s then-two-year-old sister, this film documents the experience of a cross-cultural family trying to understand and reconcile a tragedy despite cultural boundaries and differences. “It really looks at memory, and how an American woman faces the death of her daughter, versus a Mexican man facing the same thing,” explains Natalia, who allowed hours of recorded recollections by family members to guide the film’s direction. “I didn’t try to control what they would say by asking them specific questions,” she reveals. “After I listened to the tapes, I figured out where to go.”

Perhaps a direct result of her bicultural upbringing, Natalia’s willingness to listen and observe has undoubtedly served her well as an artist, and is sure to be an asset to her on her next project, El General. A feature-length documentary about the life of Natalia’s grandmother—the daughter of the president of Mexico, this film will again be based on audiotapes, this time those made and left behind by Natalia’s grandmother, who died when Natalia was 13. “These tapes contain beautiful recollections about her life, and also give insight into this historical figure and period in Mexico’s history,” says Natalia. “No one had ever listened to them before. It almost seems like she made them for me.”

Natalia has been performing research and collecting archival materials for El General for almost four years, and will be working on editing, organizing, and structuring the information during her six-week residency at The MacDowell Colony. She will present excerpts of her work and answer questions from audience members at February’s MacDowell Downtown presentation.