SHORT FILMS

short films

Cuba 15 won Best Short Film Jury Award & Best Short Film Audience Award at Berlinale (Panorama), and an Emmy Award nomination (POV/PBS); official selection at Sundance, SXSW, and MoMA and PS1 (MoMA), received a dozen of honors including a National Geographic award. Forgetful ft. Gal Soler and Anna Torrent, received sixteen international awards.

Cuba 15 producer I “With passion and uncertainty, Tzunami Ortega Coyra lives the crossroads between childhood and womanhood through the traditional quinceañera celebration.” I IMDb I Forgetful coproducer I “Following the untimely death of his last daughter, Miguel decides to leave his home village, but the ghosts of his dead relatives plot to kill him.” I IMDb

Behance I IMDb

Behance I IMDb

[Film produced at university]

THE HOUSE OF MY DREAMS (2016, Mexico/Spain, 19min) fiction short film as part of a Work Integrated Learning (WIL) program at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico. Director: Pedro Valiente

SYNOPSIS “Magical tale of a man that never lived in his house. Beautiful and sometimes disturbing presences appear in his dreams as he wonders how was life for the ones who inhabited his haunting mansion.” La casa de mis sueños is based on the real story of Quinta Gameros, art nouveau mansion and national museum built in 1917 in Chihuahua, Mexico

INTERNATIONAL SCREENINGS Quinta Gameros Museum, Mexico I Arts University Plymouth, UK

CAST Ana Gabriela Huerta, Emilio Valenzuela, Camila Anchiondo, Sara Rascón, María Ofelia Sánchez, Daniela Ortega, Salvador Carbajal, Ana María Lafón, Virginia Aceves, Gonzalo García CREW Director/writer/producer: Pedro Valiente I Producer/AD: Ana Gabriela Huerta I Executive producers: Virginia Aceves, Martha Soto I Production supervisor: Isaac Estrella I DP: Ana María Lafón I Sound design: René Gutiérrez I Sound: Edgar Muñoz I Editors: Julio Haro, Danna Valenzuela I Production/costume: Lizbeth Rubio, I Production/makeup: Belén Avella. I A production by Tecnológico de Monterrey, Chih, Centro Cultural Universitario Quinta Gameros at Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua I Flying Fish Work TECH INFO Running time: 19min I Year: 2016 I Language: Spanish I Subtitles: English I Format: HD video, color I Country: Mexico, Spain I © 2016 Tecnológico de Monterrey I Flying Fish Work

FROM THE FILM "My name is Manuel Gameros. I made to build my house in 1907. It was finished three years later. Then, the Mexican Revolution exploded, and it was confiscated. Pancho Villa and the chief of the army, Venustiano Carranza, managed to reside in the house. I had to escape to the United States with my wife and daughter. We never lived in the house. I have often wondered how was the life of the ones who inhabited the house in the following years. They appear in my dreams as presences. Or, maybe, as memories that never existed."

[Student film]

THE KING OF HARLEM (1995, US/Spain, 9min) graduation short film at New York Film Academy. Director: Pedro Valiente.

SYNOPSIS “A haunting story of love and destiny based on a poem by Spanish poet Federico García Lorca. Two men, a woman, and New York City.” It screened at NYFA and a film series in SoHo, New York. The film was part of a one-year film program in New York through the highest grant of the year by the Ministry of Culture of Spain

NEW YORK SCREENINGS New York Film Academy I SoHo Film Series 

CAST Rasheed Hinds, Erika Hoglund, Victor Reese CREW Director/writer/producer: Pedro Valiente I DP: Vicente Pouso, Luis Mdhuar I AD: Silvia Briceño I Costume design: Kim W. Behrens I Makeup/hair stylist: Kristine Brandt I Editing supervisor: Elizabeth Schub MUSIC Camarón de la Isla, Laurie Anderson, Kronos Quarter, Michael Brook, Meredith Monk, David Motion, Sally Potter, Violent Femmes THANKS Héctor Adalid, Peter Baker, Ingrid Beger, Steven Cruz, Elizabeth Schub, Heng Tatt Lim, Robert McKenna, Ang Snag Woo, Jerry Sherlock in memoriam TECH INFO Running time: 9min I Year: 1995 I Language: English I Format: 16mm, black/white I Country: US/Spain I © 1995 Pedro Valiente

FROM THE DIRECTOR “I had the opportunity of working for the first time with an international team. A wonderful crew from the US, Norway, Greece, Japan, Korea, and Venezuela. Collaborators helped us to make it happen such as actors Rasheed Hinds, Erika Hoglund, and Victor Reese, and talented costume designer Kim W. Behrens. It was also the first film shot by photographer Vicente Pouso. We managed to tell a story full of action including a snow scene and surreal moments such as Rasheed playing inside a baby’s cradle in a football court. Music blended flamenco master Camarón de la Isla with cutting-edge artists Laurie Anderson, Meredith Monk, and Violent Femmes. The project brought for all us a learning experience on filmmaking and life in New York.” —PV

Behance I IMDb

[Digital media produced at university]

CROSSING STAGES (2013-2015, Spain) 29 videos, 72 interviews as web series produced by Crossing Stages European arts project by UC3M, Madrid. Director/producer: Pedro Valiente

SYNOPSIS Crossing Stages Web Series by European arts project by UC3M, Madrid connecting Europeans with classic myths, produced by professionals, lecturers, and upcoming artists from UC3M.

CREW Director/writer/producer: Pedro Valiente I Executive producer: Sonsoles Herreros Laviña I Writer/coordinating producer/AD: Alfredo Miralles I Coordinating producer/director: Irene Gómez I DP: Daniel Rodríguez del Pozo I Additional photography: Fernando Ampuero, et al TECH INFO Running time: Short films I Year: 2013-2015 I Language: Spanish, Subtitles: English I Format: HD video, color I Country: Spain I © 2013-2015 UC3M

▶ PLAY About Innocence Spanish dancers I In Search of the Myth ftheater workshop I Whisperers urban action with augmented reality I Les Sept Dormants French dancers I Mythical Visions / UniEscena Festival arts events.

LINKS YouTube I Flickr I Facebook I IMDb SITE University BEHANCE Academic Work I Students Work

Modern Women (2018, Jordan/Spain) institutional series for TV produced by Spanish NGO Alliance for Solidarity.

Factory (2018, Jordan, 6min) institutional video for Factory art hub at The Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts.

Director/producer: Pedro Valiente

THE QUEST OF THE JAGUAR WARRIOR (2012, Mexico/Spain, 3:34min) - Garra de Jaguar, animation feature film project by Iván Espinosa produced in Mexico City. Original characters designed by Headless in Barcelona. Trailer released. Executive producer: Pedro Valiente

SYNOPSIS “Sikanda Warrior departs in search of Jaguar God unaware of the fact that Unaidu, his younger brother, is following him in hiding. When Sikanda falls in battle, Unaidu, due his kindness and purity, mixes his blood with Jaguar God to save his brother from death. They will face Yatañaña and his vast army of Coyote Warriors. Their mission is to save the last tree that outstands their people and reestablish peace on Earth.“ —Ocho Venado Producciones

CAST Natalia Lafourcade, Abdel Silva, Rebeca Patiño, Arturo Cataño (voice) CREW Directors: Iván Espinosa, Andrés Palma I Producers: Iván Espinosa, Manuel Gálvez, Andrés Palma I Co-producers: Federico M. Domínguez, ARCA, Technicolor, Astro LX I Associate producers: Martín Burillo, José Iñesta, José Santos de la Peña, Alejandro Islas I Executive producers: Tita Lombardo, Andrés Palma, Pedro Valiente I Music: Alejandro Ramírez I International consultant: Paco Rodríguez I Assistant to executive producer (Spain): Sara Conde TECH INFO Running time: 3:34min (trailer) I Year: 2012 I Language: Spanish, Subtitles: English I Format: HD video, 3D Animation I Country: Mexico, Spain I A film with the support of Mexican Film Institute (Fondeadora) I © 2012 Ocho Venado Producciones, Poliedro VFX

FROM THE DIRECTOR “There are human achievements that make footprints and transform the world. Fascinating stories of heroes who built empires with the help of men and gods.” —Iván Espinosa

NATALIA LAFOURCADE is a Mexican pop-rock singer, songwriter, and lyric soprano who has won a Grammy Award and eleven Latino Grammys since her debut in 2003 to Musas (2018).

FAMILY TREE (2006, Spain/Mexico, 10min) - Árbol genealógico, documentary film project filmed in Mexico City blending non-fiction and animation. Not released. Director: Pedro Valiente

SYNOPSIS “Family Tree tells the story of a group of young boys and girls in Mexico City who face a challenge: to create a family tree. What starts as a school project becomes a thrilling journey that may change their lives.” Characters learn incredible stories: a missing father is Cuban, both grandparents fought in the Spanish Civil War, a woman discovers a treasure, a grand-grandmother became a hero at the Mexican Revolution, a woman married three times, a girl discovers a slave in her family, and a swimmer is in love.

CAST Cuauhtémoc Anda, Elise Bañuelos, René Camiruaga, Ana Colín, Carolina Flores, Jesús Flores, Alfredo Garbuno, Stephannie Morato, Susana Rivero, Diego Mackey, Adriana Valencia, Adriana Velázquez (students), Guadalupe Lima (teacher) CREW Director/writer/producer: Pedro Valiente I Executive producer: Guadalupe Lima I Associate producer: Luis García I DP: Bruno Schauwecker, Animation/graphic design: Michelle Arellano I AC: Ricardo Bustamante I Production coordination: Stephannie Morato I PA: Manuel Escalante, Carlos Boussart I Visual research: Sara Conde TECH INFO Runnin time: 10min I Year: 2006 I Language: Spanish, Subtitles: English I Format: HD video I Country: Mexico, Spain I A film with the support of Universidad Anáhuac I Tecnológico de Monterrey, Estado de México I © 2006 Flying Fish Work

FROM THE CHARACTERS “My uncle spent the family’s fortune.” —Adriana Valencia “One of my grand-grandfathers belonged to the Communist Party. He was persecuted for betrayal to the country.” —Cuauhtémoc Anda “My grand-grandmother Concepción widowed three times. She married my grandfather who was rejected by her family.” —Stephannie Morato “My grand-grandfather, a doctor, was sent to Solitary Land, Yucatán, for supporting the Revolution.” —Elise Bañuelos “In 1900 my grandfather, police inspector, entered the Republican Army to fight Franco in Spain. He lost and was imprisoned.” —Diego Mackey

EMBRACE THE HURRICANE (2002, Spain/Dominican Republic, 10min) - Abraza el huracán, documentary film project filmed in Dominican Republic. Not released. Director: Pedro Valiente

SYNOPSIS “Eddí Eluá is about to see the ocean for the first time. He lives with his Haitian family in Dominican Republic where the school takes students to the beach. In days like this, Caribbean islands embrace the hurricane that lash their lives.” Eddí is twelve and has huge black eyes. With a yellow T-shirt and new shoes, he collects glass bottles.

CAST Eddí Eluá & family, La Escuelita students, Oné Respe (Catuxo Badillo, Natacha Calderón, et al), Teatro de la Luna Luna (David Matiano, Lisa Rubin) CREW Director/writer/producer: Pedro Valiente I Executive producer: David Matiano I Associate producer: Hebe Joy I DP: Pedro Valiente I Sound: Sergio Badillo, David Matiano I Editor: Luis García TECH INFO Running time: 10min I Year: 2002 I Language: Spanish I Subtitles: English I Format: HD video I Country: Spain, Dominican Republic I A film with the support of Teatro de la Luna Luna and Oné Respe I © 2002 Flying Fish Work

FROM THE DIRECTOR ”Many people in Puerto Rico reject immigrants from Dominican Republic who in return reject newcomers from Haiti. Maybe that turmoil helps them to accept patiently natural disasters that hit every year including earthquakes and tidal waves. Embrace the Hurricane shows people who celebrate their destiny as hurricanes are the metaphor of Caribbean life.” —PV

ONÉ RESPE [honor, respect], NGO founded by Catuxo Badillo and Natacha Calderón, has supported developing communities for decades in Dominican Republic TEATRO DE LA LUNA LUNA New York arts group by David Matiano (dance) and Lisa Rubin (art) with Pedro Valiente (film), delivered a one-month workshop at Oné Respe. I Behance Project I Behance Film

“Cuba 15, directed by Elizabeth Schub with a kind of magical shaggy formality, follows voluble and self possessed Tzunami Ortega Coyra as she prepares and celebrates for her quinceañera. In a few telling strokes it sketches not only the life of one girl (her family, friends, and ill-fated love interest) but of the poor Cuban small town that she calls home and would no trade for any other, and concludes with a lovely dance where Tzunami dances in the streets, fields, and beneath a mural of Che. […] It is as delightful as anything I’ve seen upon a television screen.” —Robert Lloyd, LA Times ▶ PLAY Cuba 15 by Elizabeth Schub I producer: Pedro Valiente

“Olvidadizo’s premise is ambitious […]. Inspired from Mexican folklore, Dia de los Muertos, […] it is not only this uniqueness that adds value to this film, and makes it an extraordinarily entertaining experience. Olvidadizo‘ abounds in good-quality comic relief, while also weaving a narrative line that is more layered and complex than in the case of many feature films.” —Andrei C. Serban, The Monthly Film Festival ▶ PLAY Forgetful by Arturo Alanis I co-producer: Pedro Valiente

“Ann Casanova, author of a study for a World Bank partner, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), considers Tecnológico de Monterrey ‘the Harvard of Mexico’, and highlights the reasons for the Tec21 Model’s reinvention. The House of My Dreams belongs to this framework. Filmed in one day and completed in a month, it belongs to a Transversal Program with students, lecturers, artists, and professionals. Beyond the university, family, friends, audience, and local press were involved. Nobody filmed before in Quinta Gameros national museum in Northern Mexico.” —PV ▶ PLAY The House of My Dreams by Pedro Valiente

Filmmaking