
Santiago
Shot guerrilla-style in locations throughout East LA, Santiago, directed by Felix Martiz, reflects the true spirit of independent film-making. It's also got an amazingly well executed story. I play Alex, right hand of upstart crime-boss, Santiago. In the scene depicted by the three pics below, I meet and get thoroughly upset with the the protagonist and his partner who are expecting to meet Santiago and foolishly mistake me for him. We shot the scene twice. The camera was inside the car hidden from general view. It took maybe thirty seconds a shot, ten minutes from start to finish, when Felix abruptly said, "Get in the car." I looked around to find that we had drawn a crowd of silent on-lookers up and down the street, but there was not a soul within forty feet of us. It was chilling. These people thought I was about to do something, and no one dared to intervene. From where they stood, it was real. I piled in the car with everybody else and we left.



Festival Awards
Best Drama Feature, 2012 Puerto Rico International Film Festival
Audience Choice Best Feature Film, 2011 Riverside International Film Festival
Bronze REMI Award, 2011 Houston International Worldfest Film Festival
Silver Palm Award, 2011 Mexico International Film Festival
Honorable Mention, 2011 SoCal Independent Film Festival
Honorable Mention, 2011 Philadelphia Independent Film Festival
Best Feature Film, Monteria International Film Festival (Columbia)
Additional Official Selections
2011 Chicago International Latino Film Festival
2011 Manhattan Film Festival
2011 New York International Latino Film Festival
2011 San Francisco Latino Film Festival
2011 Oaxaca International Film Festival (Mexico)
