Meet Luis Quijano

Published
2019-01-08
Interview

Find here the original link to the article: https://voyagela.com/interview/meet-luis-quijano-luis-quijano-burbank/


Today we’d like to introduce you to Luis Quijano.


Luis, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.


I’m originally from Mérida, Yucatan, a city in the southeastern side of Mexico. Since I was young, I’ve been very close to the performing arts as my two sisters used to dance and sing, my mother is an architect, and my father has always been a big enthusiast of theater and opera. We would usually go on Sundays to the Symphony Orchestra or a local play since we were kids and, even when we didn’t love it at the beginning, we grew to love it and appreciate it. My attraction to filmmaking and movies began when I was 14 years, and I watched William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist” (1973) for the first time after being told not to watch it. I watched the exorcism scene on TV, and the next day I rushed to the nearest Blockbuster and rented it. I watched it the same night, and I was terrified but also attracted to the experience of following a story so distant from what I had experienced so far in my personal life. I followed this film with other movies, mostly horrors. I bought books about horror movies and the history of the Oscars and began watching as many movies I could. The idea of becoming a filmmaker was still not in my mind as I didn’t know it was possible, I never thought of film schools or having the opportunity of filming. I kept watching movies of all genres, and in 9th grade, I participated with two other friends in a school competition consisting of making a short about family and moral values; nothing came to fruition, but I had the first experience of writing fiction all coming from my own mind and ideas. My last year of high school, I decided to do the math classes as I wanted to be an architect as my mother. Halfway through the year, I decided to finish it strong but leaving to Mexico City to study “Sciences of Communication,” which consists of studies of theater, film, radio and all sources of media. Aged 19 years, I did my first short with two fellow students from the university, Fabio Colonna and Regina Fernandez, and I decided to drop it and go all the way into filmmaking and move to the United States. It’s 2015, and I’m starting a Bachelor in the Fine Arts of Filmmaking at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles. I thank God and my family for this opportunity of learning about the craft and meeting several amazing and talented individuals from all around the world. My love and admiration for the craft and the work put into movies grew even bigger. Now it’s 2018, I’m graduated and working on several projects in and out of sets.



Has it been a smooth road?


Everything in life has up and downs, but I tend to focus always on the positive. If something negative comes up, find a way to move past it or to make it positive.

I was fortunate to study in a bilingual school all my life, so I already had fluent English before moving to the United States and being in Los Angeles, there’s always someone I can speak Spanish with so there was no language barrier.

In these almost four years I’ve been in the United States, I’ve met several people with similar goals and passions, so I never felt alone, even without my family.

We’d love to hear more about what you do.

I’m a Mexican filmmaker; director and writer. As a filmmaker, I feel like I have the responsibility of giving Mexico a good name, of honoring my culture and my background. I’m inclined to horror and drama. I want to make stories about Mexico and Latin culture. I want to show new stories and new characters, that represent who we are in a different way that we are used to; I’m not interested in Latinos being criminals, servants, or the “hot wife.” I want to show new characters, new stories, new ideas. With the world changing very fast now, there’s more opportunities and better representation today as it was a couple of years ago, but I feel like there still is a lot of work to do. My most recent project, a short film called “Caminante, Caminante: La Leyenda del Huay Chivo” follows two Catholic missionaries in search of the religious conversion of a small town in Yucatan; they go against the rules and awaken a monster from a folk legend. It’s about faith, something very important in Latin culture, and about a Mexican horror legend. I wanted something very close to me, as I used to be a missionary back home every Easter and that legend was told to me several times. I always wanted to do a monster movie, and this was the opportunity to do a Mexican monster – horror movie in Spanish with the collaboration of Andrii Lantukh (cinematographer), Lili Gorett (lead actress), Christopher Osorio (head of the makeup department) and a talented crew. Mixing a Mexican monster, religion and a foreign language could bring the audience to a different type of horror or content that they may not be familiar with. With this project, I wanted to represent my fears, beliefs, and individualism and that’s the reason why the story is in the Spanish language, with Spanish speaking, Hispanic actors and based in Mexico. I want to do a film that takes me, and other people home, especially my people. As of now, I’m working on a feature-length version of the same story and a cannibal horror road film.


Is our city a good place to do what you do?


Los Angeles is the perfect city for filmmakers. There’s one in every corner and more opportunities than in other places. Film school was a great experience, but I don’t feel like it’s necessary. With the amount of technology and media that we have in our hands, we only need the passion and the drive to be able to pull through and start somewhere.



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