At only 14 years old, Luis Bernal Salazar would write comics for a fantasy magazine called El Atico (The Attic). After trying to follow in his father’s footsteps, an engineer for Mexican petroleum company Pemex, Salazar decided to make his own path and continue to tell stories; and so he traveled to Spain where he learned the art of moviemaking. Today he is still telling stories through short films that can be seen worldwide through the website Filmaka.com. That is how Salazar looks to make his name in the world of film and at the same time telling stories based in Mexico for the whole world.
The Contest
The 27 year old director was praised by Filmaka when he entered their 3 phase contest that consisted of making short films between 1 and 3 minutes long, with the theme “The Secret”, in only 30 days. The concept, the story, filming, and editing of this project were a challenge for Salazar and his partner co-producer and cinematographer Rodrigo Lopez; that is how they learned what they were capable of creating. For “The Secret” contest they produced “La Lagrima” (The Teardrop) which tells the story of two brothers, one who is a gang member and then the gang moves against him and end up killing his family. Then the other brother comes back to investigate and finds out everything that happened and decides to join the gang to get his revenge. Salazar says that the film has many angles and can be violent; it does deal with one of the most dangerous gangs in the world, the Mara Salvatrucha.
“Everything began when I was looking to create a series based on the life of gangs of the different factions in Los Angeles and I was reading and documenting about the gangs when we entered Filmaka’s contest and so when they asked us for the ‘secret’ theme, I was reading a book on the Mara Salvatrucha at that time; and so it was like automatic that I would associate the ‘secret’ theme with this,” Salazar tells us from Mexico in a phone conversation.
“It simply tells of the terrible reality of the people who live around that, then at not passing judgment, nor glorifying, nor indicating anything, I believe that is why it has gotten a positive approval by the people.”
With “La Lagrima” they won first place in the first phase of the contest. Filmaka’s executive liked that project so much that they offered him the chance to produce a 10-part series of short films that are now being broadcast on their website by the title “The Ten Commandments of La Vida Loca”. Salazar also finds himself in front of the camera playing the lead role of the series.
“The day that we were going to shoot the first short of “La Lagrima” of the secret, the lead role whom we had in mind, who was member of a gang not a professional actor, he was a gangbanger, well he never showed up,” Salazar explains. “Then I ended up doing it and since they liked the short and they liked my acting and my character we decided to continue to have me acting in the series.”
After that they produced the second part of the contest and presented “Ni Una Palabra” (Don’t Say a Word) which helped them stay within the top three spots in that phase. This short deals with the corruption in Mexico City. “In Mexico City, appearances can be deceiving, the people who steal may be doing it out of necessity and those who are supposed to be the authority can in reality be the real criminal,” Salazar said. “It’s a situation we live with here in Mexico.”
On the third phase they produced “The Secret Adventures of a Wiz Kid” – that deals with the forgotten homeless youth of Mexico City – and with this film they managed to place second overall in the contest; for them it was a victory. Salazar and his team won a cash prize and the chance to do other projects in collaboration with Filmaka.
The Ten Commandments of La Vida Loca
Today Salazar is writing his first full length feature film which is an adaption of “La Lagrima” and “The Ten Commandments of La Vida Loca” shorts.
“I’m writing the adaptation, there is still a ways to go, but I am confident that it can be made into a movie because we believe that the story has material that can be a good movie,” Salazar said.
That story and the way it is being presented as an internet series that can be seen all over the world also helped in getting the backing of famous Mexican actors like Carmen Salinas who then helped get Ernesto Gomez Cruz. They also got Gustavo Sanchez Parra who is best known for his role as Jarocho in “Amores Perros”. They donated their time and can be seen on the episodes that are currently on Filmaka.com. Salazar says that the main message of the story is that of finding hope in the most unlikely places. “Just how bad things can be found in the purest places, also here but is backwards, I want to send a message of hope in the darkest of places.”
His Future
His goal is to continue to tell more stories that he has in his head and that have been accumulating all his life, “And that they have a profound need behind the storytelling because I believe that not only do they represent stories but they give a valid and critical point of view of our society and of what affects us,” he said. Salazar says that he would like for people to value films so they may watch films with social messages and not only entertainment.
“I see movies like a medium of being able of obtaining that and also of being able to live a distinct life that an office can’t offer, I always wanted to own my time and not be in a company that owns you,” he explains. “So I believe that films let me fulfill myself as a person and get across the message I want to get across.”
SERIES TRAILER:
Facebook Comments
