Filmmaker Antonio Chavez Trejo uses his experience on the festival circuit through several films to propel his career in a new direction.
Trejo had a fantastic introduction to the festival circuit with the CANNES film festival being his first film festival.
"My first film festival ever, was in France, going to Cannes. The first film I ever got into a film festival, I got into Cannes," Trejo said. "It just distorted my image of film festivals because I went straight to the biggest one."Even without being the biggest star at CANNES, Trejo believed that just being on that stage was a grand experience.
Since, several of his films made the festival circuit and Trejo saw how year after year trends changed.
Trejo wants to not only go with the trends, but rather be on the forefront of trends by trying to stay ahead of trends.
"One thing I know about film festivals is you never know what you are going to get," Trejo said.From "Killer Tango," a dark comedy, to "MIRA Protocol," a dystopian post-apocalyptic film, the diversity in projects have led Trejo to find he enjoys drama and yet also has had success in the actin genre.
Trejo's mentor Guillermo Arriaga helped Trejo realized that if he wasn't strict with himself and looking for the uniqueness of each project then maybe the projects aren't worth doing.
"I'm into technology. I try to keep up-to-date by going to different conventions, always reading and keeping up-to-date with productions," Trejo said.Being into technology and realizing that virtual reality is where things are going, Trejo has been working on a way to write a story which could be made for virtual reality platforms.
"Howlers," a horror project, came to be because of Trejo's yearning to tell a traditional story in a 360 degree environment.
"I don't see it as trying to keep up with everything thats happening," Trejo said. "I like trying to see what is going to happen next, how can we do the next step before it happens."With several projects in the works Trejo said he hopes to show diversity and storytelling in ways which are innovative and entertaining.
