A Latina nanny and an upper class Manhattan Mother challenge the definition of family with a profound bond; one that is suddenly tested by a reminder of the nanny’s past family tragedy.

Director’s Vision for ‘Veo Veo A Family’

I’ve lived in New York City for many years now and it is a large part of my DNA as a writer and director. The city is a place ripe for quiet observation. One thing that’s always struck me are the invisible heroes that walk through it each day that go unnoticed. At some point, nannies became those quiet heroes. As I watched them in the park telling the children with them to “be kind,” or to be whatever they dreamed of being, I marveled at the quiet dignity with which they were raising someone else’s child.

Then a year ago I became a Mom, which made the script that I’d been working on resonate on a completely different level. I had a traumatic pregnancy experience as well as a difficult postpartum. I mention this because it made me personally see the intense relationship a woman can have with the woman taking care of her child. It’s a relationship that can supersede even a marriage, especially in times of crisis.

In this sense, what is not depicted enough, is that nannies often save Mothers as much as they save their children…And this year, as I hear myself ask my nanny to be careful with my son…on the steps, on the street, in the bath…I could not help but think about all the nannies who are like Alicia Diaz. The ones who maintain that quiet dignity as they are asked by Mothers to keep their kids safe, all the while having children back home that are in far graver danger….or worse.

With the current news cycle, immigration is not only being treated like a statistic but also a political ploy. The fact that we are talking about human beings, about families, falls by the wayside. So it is now more important than ever to tell this story. We need to see it up close, in the context of individual stories and not just news items.

All my scripts delve into the platonic relationships between women: They are core-shaking love stories that are not explored enough. In Veo Veo A Family, Mothers and nannies are worlds apart in so many ways. At the same time though, I wanted to depict that love story between them. Because in digging into their humanity, one can find these women actually want the same things – for their kids, for themselves – and in that sense they become reflections of one another.