In recent years, Latin American filmmakers have risen to prominence in the worldwide film market to great acclaim. Films by Mexican artists Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men), Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) and Alejandro González Iñárritu ( Babel ) all were notable contenders at last year’s Academy Awards and these artists continue to gain a strong presence globally. In fact, this year, Cuarón serves as a jury member for the feature film entries at the Festival de Cannes and del Toro was recently named director for two upcoming films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s «The Hobbit.»
Filmaka, a global digital entertainment studio, believes that Mexico City-based filmmaker Luis Bernal Salazar is a rising star among this new generation of Mexican filmmakers using their cultural background to confront relevant global issues that resonate with a universal audience. His Web series, «The Ten Commandments of La Vida Loca,» has just premiered on Filmaka.
The studio strives to reward creativity for aspiring writers and directors worldwide and first recognized Salazar’s talent when he submitted a short film to one of Filmaka’s many online competitions. Salazar’s engaging and tumultuous tale of one man’s quest for vengeance within the violence-ridden world of the MS-13 gang led Filmaka to offer him a ten-episode Web series based on his submission. Salazar showcases his wide array of talents in the series, which he wrote, directed and stars in. He also received $5,000 from Filmaka as runner-up in the 2007 Feature Film Competition and is currently writing a feature-length screenplay based on «The Ten Commandments» to develop into a film.
With the launch of the series, Filmaka hopes to introduce worldwide audiences to the powerful creative vision of rising filmmakers like Salazar who harness their own personal cultural backgrounds to create captivating stories of people and places most audiences may otherwise not be exposed to.
Please check out the first three episodes Salazar’s Web series, as well as interviews and his short film for Filmaka’s 2007 Feature Film Competition here.
