RATON, New Mexico (STPNS) -- SANTA FE ? The cry.

It has echoed through the centuries: The haunting lament has emerged from the dark valleys and huddling foothills. The power of the cry has gathered its sorrows at the placid waters of lakes or the gurgling rivers, and it is from the waters that she will take shape in the lore and history of the American Southwest.

It is true that well-behaved women seldom make a history.

La Llorona is a harlot, a ghost, a witch, a siren, a virgin, a beauty, a traitor and even a demon. She appears in many cultures. And for centuries, the cry has chased children into their beds at night, and filled their souls with terror. She is an image of horror and death. She has wandered as a skeleton, or even an ugly horse-faced apparition, and sometimes as a lovely, young woman caught forever in her own tragic beauty.



For filmmaker and Springer native Bernadine Santistevan, the La Llorona is a symbol of a woman?s mystical life-giving and life-taking powers. And her feature film, The Cry, is an attempt to celebrate the legend of the La Llorona, and to share her story with the world.

?Making this film has always been about the love I have for New Mexico, our people, and the unique and beautiful culture that we have inherited,? says Santistevan. ?It was the most difficult thing I ever attempted. I had no background in making a film.?

It took 10 years to bring her vision of La Llorona to the screen.

?I?ve spent many years getting to know La Llorona,? says Santistevan. ?They told me she would take me away if I went to the river, or if I was bad. And I believed them because I knew she was real. When I left New Mexico, she followed me.?

The world premiere of The Cry opened at the historic Lensic Theatre in Santa Fe May 12. The film?s premiere had to be presented twice to handle the huge crowd that gathered for the film opening. The Healy Foundation funded the premiere.

?We like opening stage curtains for creative expressions,? says Ed and Trudy Healy. ?It?s thrilling.?

The legend ? most popular in Hispanic cultures ? of La Llorona, ?the anguished spirit,? dates back to15th century Mexico and a woman named ?La Malinche.? In 1522, Conquistador Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztec Empire with the invaluable aid of this Indian slave girl, who served as his diplomat, translator, strategist, lover and mother of his son, Martin.

She was vilified in her mother country, despite the fact she saved thousands of Indian lives by enabling Cortes to negotiate rather than slaughter.

La Malinche?s story becomes transformed somewhere in time into the anguished wailing of La Llorona, who in Mexican folklore drowned her children in a fit of insanity. Her spirit was condemned to wander for eternity and wail for her lost children along the rivers and lakes.

?I first heard of her as a child growing up in (Springer),? says Santistevan. ?La Llorona was a big part of my fear. They always told stories about her, and how she drowned her baby, and how her ghost roams the river, crying. As kids, we would sit on the porch, listening to her cries in the wind. I have heard her voice.?

The multi-million-dollar suspenseful thriller was well received by the viewers.

?The audience seemed to love it,? says Santistevan. ?There are many versions of La Llorona, but I tried to present the most common elements of her dramatic story. Her legend goes back to biblical (Rachel of Rama) times. She comes under many names and faces. She frightened me as a child. And I think it will go beyond Hispanic borders, because she is such a universal story. I hope I showed how she is a reflection on the power of women.?

Santistevan served as producer and co-screenwriter, as well as director.

Her work guides viewers to a bloody resolution of conflict as two New York detectives try to solve a series of child murders in the urban setting of New York. Only when crossing paths with a curandera (healer), played by character actress Miriam Colon (Scarface, All the Pretty Horses, Lone Star), do the detectives come to a final realization that they are dealing with a supernatural power.

La Llorona can even haunt souls in the urban and concrete city. Santistevan, a Springer High School graduate, originally intended to shoot the film in her beloved New Mexico, but was unable to get the financial support to do it. In the end, the film was embraced with open arms in New York City, which is where most of The Cry was shot.

If she couldn?t go to New Mexico, then she brought New Mexico to the The Big Apple. Santistevan had crates of local folk art, Santos and weavings shipped to New York to create an atmosphere of New Mexico.

But La Llorona still beckoned Santistevan to come home. She managed to shoot some exteriors in Taos and Pilar.

?I shot a small part of The Cry in northern New Mexico,? she says. ?It took me weeks to scout and find the perfect location ? a haunting, and yet seductive stretch of the Rio Grande as it cut through a breathtaking series of mesas just outside the village of Pilar. I could smell the presence of La Llorona.?

Weeks later, Santistevan received a call from her sister, Rita, who still lives in the Pilar area, and learned that a woman named Bernadine had drowned her 4-year-old daughter, her 16-month son, and herself in the same area.

?I felt my stomach turn into a knot,? says Santistevan. ?I filmed the ?boy in the river? flashbacks at my perfect location. I felt the presence of La Llorona even more. And I remembered Bernadine. It was my river, she had my name, and she had drowned her children.?

Santistevan has become a role model and an inspiration in New Mexico. She took the effort to invite the Apache and other Native American people to her premiere. In addition, she had several rows of the theater reserved for Springer High School students, who cheered loudly at the opening credits of the film.

?I am proud of her,? says her mother, Anna Santistevan. ?She always had an extraordinary amount of energy as a child. And she was always very curious about the legend of La Llorona.?

In addition, Bernadine Santistevan is working toward partnering with New Mexico Highlands University to develop course studies surrounding the making of The Cry so others can potentially take the lead to inspire their visions into viable films. She can also contribute a business expertise that has been developed when she was hired by Fortune 500 companies and investment firms across the United States to evaluate deals and develop strategies in the film and digital media industries.

The young filmmaker with a love for math and physics earned an engineering degree from New Mexico State University, and then a master?s degree from prestigious Stanford. She tacked on a degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business. She has studied in Mexico, Japan, Venezuela, Argentina, France and England.

?I did international finance,? she says. ?But it?s really difficult to get somebody to invest in your dream. I only did this film because I wanted to share our culture with the world, and films are a good way to accomplish that feat.?

Santistevan is in discussion with three distribution companies to try and give The Cry a bigger audience and worldwide exposure. ?I really need to focus on selling it,? she explains. ?I have investors. I have a responsibility to them, and that is my biggest focus right now.?

State Rep. Hector Balderas of Wagon Mound introduced a bill in the last legislative session earlier this year seeking $450,000 to help market Santistevan?s movie, but the bill died in committee. The bill asked for the funding to go to the state?s Economic Development Department ?to market and promote New Mexico and its unique culture by supporting the marketing of the film.?

Colon, the New York character actress, also saw the worthiness of the filmmaker behind the film.

?I was attracted to the filmmaker and her enthusiasm before I read the screenplay,? Colon told the audience after the premiere. ?I had such mixed emotions after viewing the final product. I think Bernadine is a great talent and a gift to the film industry. I want to salute a new and great New Mexico filmmaker.?

Says Santistevan: ?I was hoping that The Cry will show the kids of Springer and the rest of New Mexico that if I could make my dreams come true, so can they.?