Meet Luis Quijano | Bold Journey

Published
2023-12-20
Interview

Find here the original link to the article: https://boldjourney.com/news/meet-luis-quijano/

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Luis Quijano. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

 

Luis, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
By talking to people! Plain and simple. I think a simple human interaction keeps me going creatively, especially when I meet someone for the first time and I get to connect with that person, whether they’re a stranger, a new friend, a friend’s friend, etc. The more I know someone and the more I talk and think of them, the more fuel I have to write, create and collaborate in some way with them. Or at least keep in touch.

People are awesome, and I believe there’s a bit of many people I know in most of the characters I write in my films.

 

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Well, I’m a film writer, director and producer. I love making films, and I love watching films. I mostly make horror. Since I was a kid, I used to watched horror movies with my mother, who’s also a huge fan… Chucky, The Exorcist, Sleepy Hollow, Species, classics. I’ve been making films for almost 10 years now and I’ve been slowly but steadily creating a style and voice of my own the more I grow as a human and a filmmaker. I like making films that make people uncomfortable, they don’t have to be graphic or controversial, but just something in them should make people feel strange; sometimes the topic or theme, sometimes the humor or the visual style. These elements vary per project of course. For example, the latest film I directed is a short film called “Avem”, a body horror about immigration and belonging that I believe it will trigger a conversation within the audience that will eventually watch it. It’s a bit graphic and it’s emotionally heavy, but it’s a film that I hope will affect its viewers and make them uncomfortable just thinking and seeing what the character is going through and relate it to what people go through in real life. Another key element of my work is telling stories that are about or revolve around Latin American issues and characters.

I’m also very excited that I came on board a music video series project with up and coming Mexican independent artist Mo Rivas, directing 5 music videos for her album MENOS SOLA. The first music video “Sin Miel” is already out and available to watch on Youtube, the second music video “Ellos” is currently in post production and the following three music videos will be shot in the upcoming months. One of this music videos will have some cool horror fantasy elements that I’m excited for everyone to see.

 

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I think everything comes down to your resilience, knowing your identity and being surrounded by people that lift you up, and that’s my main advice. Nowadays all industries are complicated to navigate, there are many jobs but double the applicants, low wages, too much competition, stress, insecurities, systems working against us, but we have to push through. We have to show our resilience and keep going no matter what because as long as we keep going, we’ll get to wherever we want to be.

Same goes to knowing your identity. It is very valid to be in the process of knowing who you are, what you like, what you fear, who you like, etc, and I think as humans we’re always changing and evolving, so we’ll never fully know who we are; but I do think that being confident and comfortable in who we are is key to navigate in all industry especially in the arts. Our identity defines our voice and our voice finds an audience. A loving and interested audience is what an artist needs.

 

Lastly, surround yourself with people that lift you up. I used to feel ashamed of not knowing stuff, of not being great at everything and it always bothered me that people were better than me in any way (better in math, faster runners, better with the cameras, etc), but now I know that is okay to not be the best in everything or to not know everything. And that’s why you surround yourself with people that know that, or that can teach you what you need or want to learn. You create a team of smart, talented people that eventually will become your friends and you will elevate each other.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?
Always! I love people and I love meeting people. Filmmaking is a highly collaborative medium and the different perspectives and ideas of artists I’ve collaborated with have only elevated and improved my work.

I’d like to partner and collaborate with artists with similar sensibilities as mine: underrepresented perspectives, genre filmmakers, artists not afraid of getting messy or gory in their narratives, and I love to make films fully or partially in Spanish so collaborating with more Spanish speaking filmmakers is something I’d love to do. Films don’t always have to be in the horror genre but I love disruptive films, something out of the ordinary or unique enough for the audience to be impacted by it, so I’m open to all genres but, if they’re not horror, they must have something truly exciting to get my attention and I say that not only as a filmmaker but also as an audience member.

 

You can reach out to me via social media or email. I’m always open to creating!

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