Ever since I was a young kid I have always been interested in movies. My grandma, who was full of the wise the life experience left, always knew about my interest in movies. She feed my vain for the art. Even though her religion, she professed Adventist of seven-day religion, didn’t let her go to the cinema, she always found the way to took me to the cinema. She and I enjoyed watch movies. We used to sit in the darkness room, with our faces illuminated from the reflection of the light which rebooted from the screen, both absorbs in the plot of the movie which made us laughed or cried.
After the movie, while we went back to her home, she started to talk about the movie. She had a particular point of view where the main story wasn’t the most important part of the movie, instead she showed me to enjoy the stories behind the main story, the movies’ details. I was fascinated with her stories about other people in the movies, the second character stories. I always, involved by the excitement of the moment, started to create my own movies, my own characters, my own stories, and I know now that that part of our secret visited to the cinema, were the part that she most enjoyed.
Those days are part of my most values memories. The legacy that she left me is still alive. For many different circumstances I couldn’t study film before now. But I never give up about my dreams of being a film director. At the aged of nineteen I joined a theater company. It was the most near reference that I have to gain experience about how to produce a show. Cinema studies were very expensive at that time. I worked with the theater company for twenty years.
During that time I fell in love, I raised my family, I learned a lot about production, acting, directing, lighting and sound. I traveled to many countries and worked and participated in many different theater festivals; Spolleto in Italy, Cadiz and Madrid in Spain, FIT England, Canada, Australia, Mexico, New York, Chicago, German and Colombia. While I was working there my major motivation was gain a lot of experience for the moment when I will make a movie. I never stop thinking about being a film director.
All these elements have given me a very broad outlook, with varying degrees of knowledge in a range of topics. I strongly believe that although some are not related directly, all these qualities will influence my graduate work. When the opportunity showed up I took it. I came to New York City to study film. But I have to start from the beginning. The first year I prepared to get my GED. In October 2001 I took the examination and I passed it. Now, the second step, how can I do to pay a college or a university?
I started to work and I took editing courses in the School of Visual Art and NYU. I bought a digital camera and I learned how to used it. I started to work making digital videos for parties and events. I earned enough money to start my career. The CUNY advisor sent me to HOSTOS Community College because he told me that it would be easier for me to study there. Even though the major that I was interested in, wasn’t in HOSTOS curriculum, I accepted but with the idea in my mind to changed to the college where film major was imparted.