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The story of Sons of Mezcal is told through mezcal’s cultural significance, the familial bonds it creates, and the lineage of tradition it forms over generations within the families who dedicate their lives to the traditional production of this ethereal spirit.
Don José Cortés personifies these ideas, and his words are the compass Stephan Werk and I followed in crafting the film’s storyline. We stove to tell the intriguing story of mezcal’s living history, and it’s eminent place Oaxacan culture, through the lives of four families linking mezcal’s past to its future.
I met Stephan Werk in a dimly lit mezcal bar in Oaxaca when he was filming Sons of Mezcal. I had just moved there to work as a freelance journalist and bartend in said mezcaleria. We became fast friends and he later asked me to come onboard to help him craft the film’s narrative. He showed me the raw material; stunning images, crisp, evocative audio, intense and tender moments captured on film. It was beautiful footage, but it needed to be woven together to tell the story of these families as they celebrate and preserve their culture, and the importance of passing their traditions on to the next generation. We are storytellers and we set out to tell this story. Sons of Mezcal is that story.
