by Elka Worner
Palos Verdes resident Maclovia Martel credits her artist grandfather with inspiring her to attend art school and her dancer mother for inspiring her to become a documentary filmmaker.
Martel’s grandfather was Paul-Jean Martel, a 20th Century Impressionist who exhibited in Paris with Henri Matisse and Mary Cassat before immigrating to the United States.
Martel’s mother was Carmen Gutierrez, the first Mexican dancer to appear on Broadway. She was in the original 1957 “West Side Story” cast.
Even though painting and dancing ran in her family, Martel channeled her creative energy into the visual arts.
Martel’s most recent documentary, “Tracks: Stumbling Stones Amsterdam,” won Best Short Documentary at the New York City Independent Film Festival in June.
“Tracks” is the story of “Stolpersteine,” four-inch square brass plaques installed along the canals of Amsterdam, in memory of Holland’s 104,000 Holocaust victims. “Stolpersteine”is the German word for stumbling stone.
The 10-minute work features interviews with historians, families of survivors and the artist who painstakingly engraves the small brass plaques, which are placed on the sidewalk outside the homes of Holocaust victims.
German artist Alexander Stukenberg hand engraves the plaques with the name, birth and death date of each victim.
“He lays them down because you want to remember their names. Then they will never be forgotten,” Martel said.
The first few seconds of “Tracks” begins with the sound of Stukenberg’s mallet hammering letters into a brass bar. The Old World master says in the documentary it was important the project be made by hand.
“So many people in Auschwitz behaved like machines. People were killed in a machine way,” Stukenberg said. “We cannot produce “Stolpersteine” by mass production.”
Martel spent three days in Amsterdam conducting interviews. She directed and edited the documentary, but it was her friend, producer Michael Potter, who approached her with the idea.
Potter first spotted the plaques in the 1990s, when he lived in the Herengracht, the canal region of Amsterdam. “Everywhere I walked there were plaques for the victims,” said Potter, who is Jewish and has family who died in the concentration camps.
“Every 15 minutes, we heard the same church bells that Anne Frank heard,” he said of his time in Amsterdam.
Potter, who has worked on several documentaries with Martel, described “Tracks” as “visually gorgeous” with a musical rhythm. “She keeps it on a poetic level that resonates with the audience,” he said.
Taking advantage of natural light and color is something she learned from her Impressionist grandfather, Martel said.
Though her grandfather wasn’t as famous as the other European Impressionists, he helped spread their influence in the United States. In 1903, Martel was a member of the Philadelphia Sketch Club, America’s oldest club for artists. He painted with Edward Redfield, an American Impressionist landscape painter. (Peninsula plein air artist Tom Redfield is Edward Redfield’s grandson.)
“He was called by art historian Dr. Bruce Chambers ‘the missing link between European and American Impressionism,’” Martel said.
His work – she inherited hundreds of his paintings — had a huge influence on her life.
“I went to art school because of him. I used to copy his drawings, especially his nudes,” she said.
Martel attended Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. When she graduated with a fine arts degree, she didn’t go into art. Instead, she started a pop and alternative band called “Maclovia,” writing and performing her own songs in Hollywood clubs.
After she discovered a suitcase full of old photos and newspaper articles about her mother, Martel decided to make a documentary about her.
“She had quite a life, but she never talked about it. She was always like ‘Oh, it’s in the past,’” Martel said.
Her mother designed and sewed her own dance costumes.
“She started making these little jackets, shirts and dresses and my dad would take them to boutiques in New York City and they would sell out,” Martel said. Her mom eventually launched her own clothing design company called Carmen G.
Martel said she used an iPhone to interview her mother for the documentary.
“It was very gorilla style, but I had all the material and it cost no money,” she said.
“A Girl from Mexico” played at the Lincoln Center in New York. It was nominated for best dance documentary in 2013.
Martel remembered bringing her mom to the screening in New York City.
“All the dancers from Juilliard came to watch the film,” Martel said. “They heard about this film on Carmen, and she was like a little rock star.”
“A Girl from Mexico” kick started her career as a documentarian. After the successful screening, Martel’s friends suggested she make more documentaries.
As an elementary school teacher, Martel has limited time to devote to documentaries, so she chooses her projects with intention.
“I like to do documentaries that will help the world,” she said.
“If you get emotion out of it, that’s important. If I’m making it, and I get a tingle down my spine, then I know I’m doing something good.”
“Tracks: Stumbling Stones Amsterdam” will be available on Vimeo in January 2024. PEN
