Three men try desperately to pull a beat-up van out of the sands of the Mexican desert as the sun rapidly sinks over a marked drugrunning route. Sounds like a good scene for a film, but as it turns out, it's the production of Purgatorio: A Journey Into the Heart of the Border, a new film on the vanguard of genre-pushing documentaries. After premiering his film to sold-out crowds at the LA Film Festival and being named one of this year's 25 New Faces of Independent Film, self-taught director Rodrigo Reyes sat down with No Film School to talk about everything from cinema lenses and shooting rules he made himself stick to during production, to the cuteness of Gael García Bernal, to how certain documentaries are pushing the form of cinema as a whole.

Most of us have a tendency -- to grab the camera and just get as close to the action as possible, and just get everything -- I decided what I needed -- was to force myself to compose a shot and make a commitment to the point of view in the scene.

Want to hear the details of what self-imposed rules helped him make this "starkly beautiful" film? Check out the interview for yourself! There's a trailer in there to wet your whistle --

Thank you, Rodrigo!

What do you think about the self-imposed shooting limitations that Rodrigo talks about? Have you seen any documentaries lately that have been pushing the form?

Link: Purgatorio: A Journey Into the Heart of the Border

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