The Internet can't get enough of Alexandra Roxo and Natalia Leite. The duo, who first started working together on a few Vice projects, namely Serrano Shoots Cuba and Every Woman, are back at it with Be Here Nowish, a raw web series about a couple of friends who leave New York's harsh concrete jungle in search of a spiritual awakening in Los Angeles. Not only has it gotten picked up by Ora TV for a 10-episode run, it's also been selected to be part of the Tribeca N.O.W. program, one that highlights fresh storytellers sharing their work to the online community.
If you haven't gotten the chance to watch the series, catch up now. These women tell stories so fascinating and honest that they're bound to come up in casual conversation, if they haven't already. C'mon, no one likes to be that rube out of the loop.
But before you do, here's this: Complex had a quick chat with Roxo and Leite about how their partnership came about, the idea for the series, and where they hope to take it in the future.
On their partnership:
Natalia Leite: We met two years ago through some mutual friends at a party and very quickly started a working relationship because there was an opportunity to do a documentary in Cuba and I couldn’t go because I was getting my green card at the time. So Alexandra and I had a chat and she was like, "Well I'll go if you can’t go and need someone to cover. We decided we would co-direct this documentary [Serrano Shoots Cuba] that we ended up getting picked up by Vice. That was like the first project that we did and we didn’t really know each other that well at the time, but it just felt right to do it.
We had been doing our own stuff before that and we both had been working on our own films. I had done three short films and I come actually from an art background because they were more like art films.
Alexandra Roxo: Before we started working together, I directed a feature film [Mary Marie] and some fashion films that screened at fashion week and a few music videos as well. Also, I think we both had worked for production companies and doing different things and working odd jobs.
On the idea for the web series:
Leite: We wanted to make something that was more immediate and we didn’t have to wait for a lot of money or producers or other factors to get something out to the world. We had both been working to raise money for a feature so we decided, "Why don’t we just make something with our friends and make something very low key?" So we got some talented people that we knew to come together and shoot. It took us a while to finish it out because it was such a long process, but we had the creative control to do something that we felt wasn’t out in the media and that was a representation of our community.
We've gotten positive responses so far. I think people are excited about a show that talks about these things that it doesn’t seem like other people are talking about and it's something out there that people are looking forward to. No one really talks about being around spirituality and sexuality for our generation right now.
On incorporating the New Age aspect:
Leite: The concept is very much a reflection of our own lives. It's twisted in a very comedic way but a lot of things that we show are things that we have experienced ourselves or stories that we have heard from other people. What we do with our life, the rituals that are important to us—that is kind of where the show came about.
On connecting with Ora TV:
Leite: We had done a Kickstarter a year ago and had raised some money for production and Ora came about through an acquaintance. Like, someone that knew about our work in the film community knew Ora and presented it to them. We were actively pursuing other producers at that point, but it was really exciting for us because we needed the support to get the show made.
On bigger plans for Be Here Nowish:
Leite: The dream for us is that we'd love for it to become a television show, but at this point we are kind of focused on finishing it and putting it out in the world. That's the next step, so we'll see where that goes.
For more of Complex Pop Culture's Tribeca coverage, click here.
Watch the first episode of the webseries below.
Visit the Be Here Nowish site.
