Tenacity and calculating measures are paying off for seven, hard-working New York Latino filmmakers and actors whose careers are reaching higher ground by virtue of their work in a short films at the internationally acclaimed Cannes Film Festival. Acceptance into the Festival de Cannes will benefit from a prime viewing position within the Short Film Corner from May 13-24th. The talent traveling to France do so with the intent on networking with industry players, institutions, financiers and the most important international reps in the film business to develop their next project – possibly a feature film. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the journey that got them there.
The Seven
Adel Morales Monica Palmieri Brandon Polanco Sebastian Rea Plinio Villablanca Pablo Andrade Francisco Lupini Basagoiti
ADEL MORALES P.S. 432 Producer
Director: Elizabeth Nichols Synopsis: A New York City public school teacher confronted with the reality of an exam-based system, is compromised to consider whether or not to cheat on the state test exams.
Bronx-born, Nuyorican, Adel Morales is known as a prolific and proficient filmmaker. He is someone who makes us proud as a Wise Latino, who is educated, professional, devoted to Latino community as he strives for greater goals in life. With one Master’s degree in his pocket as a public school educator and a number of short films which have received acclaim at film festivals nationally, he goes back to school at 39 to obtain an MFA in Film Production with a concentration in writing & directing. In the last three years has completed 15 shorts at NYU. Thus, is it any surprise his short film, P.S. 432 directed by Elizabeth Nichols is off to Cannes 2015? This former President of NALIP-NY (National Association of Latino Independent Producers) has proven that life goes full circle and that when you work your butt off and give to community selflessly, you are destined to scale great heights in life.
Tio Louie: Tell me how your being a teacher gave you the tools as a visual storyteller to debut a project at Cannes?
Adel Morales: I was a teacher for 17 years. I was a resource for the director in educating her on the reality of academic settings in urban environments. The teacher in this film is compromised to consider whether or not to cheat on the state test exams. The way the director went about the school setting was fascinating to me. She actually agreed to do a documentary of an after-school program and she incorporated this into the actual film rather than having kids in a contrived setting simulating a relevance-based setting. This was an excellent eye-opener about delving deeply into a narrative film, by coupling it with a documentary lens.
TL: You have a Master’s degree and several highly polished short films under your belt, yet you decided to return to college for a second Master’s. Three years into the program and the expense of it all, is it still worth it and did anything surprise you that you had not anticipated?
AM: Definitely worth it. What makes it worth it that I was able to meet, but also make friends with people from around the globe – as someone from the Bronx – that I would have never had the opportunity to readily interact with. So now there are 36 filmmakers from around the world who know that I am someone they can count on. I know how to do a call sheet and a shot list. But they helped me take my game up a notch and make it more professional and the difference between right and wrong. I had hoped that my peers and the images they were creating would influence me, but it wasn’t unexpected. It was an aspiration. Hard work and determination matter and it translates from the grassroots that I had delved into and transferred into the professional world. But more importantly, I am part of the NYU hallways that tell these stories from our community and that many in my class were not exposed to this blue collar Latino, working class perspective, rather as a cultural group perceived as the criminal. There’s a sense of responsibility that is growing. There’s no one besides me in my program that is from an urban, Latino Caribbean experience. Limousines and caviar are not my world. My New York City is grandmothers carrying three bags of laundry screaming at their grandchildren to follow.
TL: Tell me about our family background?
AM: My parents were always together. My father taught me street smarts and my mom taught me ambition. They’re both pulling for me.
TL: What is your 10 cents for an aspiring or rising filmmaker?
AM: The one thing I have learned in the 12 years I have been making films is that consistency matters. Starting and finishing something matters. All you have is your word and you have to be true to it. It has to do with helping others. Selflessness is important and bringing others along is what will make a difference. Just concentrating is not going to reap the same results as when you help others. Because in turn, they will support you. Don’t be single-minded that only your “shit” matters – others matter, too. What I have learned is that others will only reach out when they need for themselves, rather than reciprocating when the shoe falls on the other foot. Helping others embodies community, which in turn benefits you. In the years I have been around, I have also seen people who are no longer around.
TIO LOUIE/Louis E. Perego Moreno
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