Easy Mondays Director Luis Gerard Documents Stories of the COVID-19 Pandemic

During the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Easy Mondays director Luis Gerard set out on a mission to create a series of films in collaboration with Banco Popular. The global disaster seemed to bring nothing but death and destruction, but Gerard saw something more. He chose to tell the stories of resilience, adaptation, and the power of the human spirit. 

While documentary style filmmaking isn’t the norm for Gerard, he felt the need to make this project. The only right way to do it, as he saw it, was to tell real stories and shoot the real people behind them. He didn’t have the resources that usually come with narrative or commercial filmmaking, so he had to adapt to a host of production obstacles to make these films happen amid the strict Covid restrictions. Gerard was lucky, he said, to have such a talented and committed team by his side, including directors of photography Alejandro Martinez and Nikita Gorodnichenko, who were instrumental in the making of these films. 

Gerard began with a process of research and interviews, trying to find the perfect subjects to capture. With a surplus of options, he honed in on a few real people and their one in a million stories. With a skeleton crew and only the necessary equipment, Gerard set out to film in Mexico, Moscow, and Mumbai. 

In Mexico, we meet an inspiring couple who started out as wrestlers, but got through the lockdown making protective masks in the style of the traditional luchador. They were able to bring themselves through the pandemic with passion, resourcefulness, and enduring love. “It’s a love story,” Gerard said with a smile, recalling what drew him to this couple in the first place. 

Gerard also wanted to include in these films a huge silver lining of Covid-19. He said, “I didn’t know where I would find it, but I wanted a story that showcased the positive effect the pandemic had on the planet.”

He found it in Moscow, with a designer who prioritised sustainability even before the pandemic. Gerard was fascinated by Galina Larina's optimism and resilience. She is a graphic designer with a clothing line called Plasticdoom, which designs coats, umbrellas, purses, and other articles out of recycled plastic. When the recycling companies in Moscow had to shut down due to COVID-19, Galina couldn't pay her rent and lost her workshop  - but she continued designing and creating from her home by collecting plastic from the streets and parks of Moscow and turning it into clothing articles, all under the most challenging circumstances. What impressed Gerard the most was Galina's unselfishness and positive outlook on the pandemic. Even though Covid brought many challenges, as an environmentalist, she thought COVID was beneficial to the planet as it paused pollution when millions of cars were off the streets, planes were off the skies, and factories were shut down.

Both of the films were edited by Nomad in New York by editor and friend Adam Schwartz. The third of these films, shot in India, is yet to be released.