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

Rene, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The most meaningful film project I’ve worked on is actually the short film project I’m working on now. The project is titled “Existential.” The short film tells the personal story of a man named Michael, who after a string of tragic events in his life, finds himself inexplicably tangled with one of the most mysterious and terrifying forces in the universe: a Black Hole. As he grapples with his mortality, Michael embarks on a journey to truly understand the essence of existence itself.

The short film was heavily, if not directly, inspired by a lot of powerful events that happened in my life during the Spring/Summer of 2023. I found myself realizing that I was not happy with where I was in life and felt myself spiral down into an abyss of regret and negativity. Even though I did try to pull myself out, it was hard. I remember watching the movie “Interstellar” with my Boyfriend at the time, and even though I had seen the film countless times, it hit me harder this viewing. It made me think about how small we truly are in the universe and how scary outer space really is. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronomer when I grew up, so my interest in the interstellar topics had always grabbed my attention. Of course, I chose to follow the artistic path and focused more on making movies. Anyway, something about this particular viewing and a strange but powerful interest in space, threw me further into an existential crisis. One that grew in size after the passing of my Grandmother in May of 2023. Her passing made me realize that nothing is infinite and that we are on this planet for a very limited amount of time. I felt that I had wasted so many years in things that shouldn’t have mattered.

Throughout this ordeal, I became terrified of death and the unknowns of what waited for us once you passed that veil. The shadow of death only grew bigger as well; a few weeks later, I had found out that my penpal from the Philippines, Christian Gok-ong, who I had talked to on and off for years, had passed away so suddenly. I had only just spoken to him a few months before and his tragic passing really came from no where and it only made me feel worse. A few weeks later, I was involved in a terrible car accident where a drunk driver hit my car and caused me to spin out of control and rollover. All of this happened in the middle of the highway – which thankfully, wasn’t as busy and it didn’t go as bad as it could have. I managed to walk out of the wreck with nothing but a few scratches on my hand, and thankfully, my life.

After the dust settled, one night, I found myself watching photos and videos of my adventurous life and came to a realization that, even though life is short, and we are but a tiny speck in the large vastness of this universe, it was up to us to live the life we wanted and live it as best as we could. I truly understood then that what matters most to me in this life, is what is important and I was going to fight for that. To fight for a long and happy life… So, being the dramatic man that I can be (haha), I decided to put all these feelings of existentialism and grief into a short film. And this short film is “Existential.” It was going to be a project that I wanted to make sure truly spoke to my skills as a filmmaker and visual storyteller. So, I’m currently in the middle of post-production and recently released a teaser trailer for it. My hope is that the finished film will be worthy enough to go through the film festival circuits, so people can watch it and relate to the themes and messages of the story. Even though this project is based on my life, there are heavy sci-fi elements in it that I think will provide some great imagery of what I was feeling during my own existential crisis.

So far, the project is turning out better than I had hoped and I’m confident it will be a success! It may not resonate with a lot of people just yet, but I know there are a lot of us, who have felt lost and unsure of what to do their lives if it’s just going to end. What’s the point? I asked myself – the point is to live, to exist on this beautiful flying rock that has oceans, exotic animal, mountains, good people. Life is worth living because it does end but I think there is beauty in that.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I fell in love with filmmaking when I was 13 years old. I remember borrowing my mother’s camcorder and using it to record a fake “news show” with my cousins. From there on, I became obsessed with the idea of making videos and telling stories through that medium.

I originally wanted to draw comic books and tell my crazy stories there. However, I was not patient enough to draw twenty-plus pages to tell a story! So, I began to teach myself everything I could about filmmaking and story development. Eventually, I realized that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, so I made up my mind to go to school for this and become a professional filmmaker. I was not the wealthiest kid on the block, so I started out with a small Sony camera for photos, each year or so upgrading to the next best thing I could afford. Over time, I was able to acquire some pretty cool equipment and finally film in the style and quality I wanted. However, I knew I had to develop my skills with what I had available because that is what mattered in the end. It wasn’t necessarily the tools, it was how to use them.

I learned everything I could about cinematography, editing, photography, etc. I had found my calling as a videographer and set my mind to focus on that specific part of filmmaking. Since I’ve graduated, I’ve been able to produce a variety of short films, worked in real estate video, corporate, and are now currently working as a Motion Graphics artist. But my heart will always belong to videography and photography, to crafting beautiful images. I’m trying to branch out more and meet other like-minded people, something I wish I had done sooner. So, if you have a dream and you want to see it come to life, work for it, do what you can now, at your own pace of course, but get yourself involved, because it truly is about who all you know.

I’m going to keep learning as much as I can and press on this dream of mine to become a well-established filmmaker, and even though I have fumbled a bit in my journey, I’m more determined now too see this become a reality.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being a creative is just being able to bring these images and stories that I can see inside my head to life. Not many people can apparently visualize their thoughts or ideas (I don’t know if that is true or not, but it is what I was told haha). For me, it is very satisfying seeing actors and crew members working hard on bringing our visions to life. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing other professionals directing larger than life crews, working their magic to bring a beautiful vision to fruition. Filmmaking is such a wonderful process that I cannot imagine myself doing anything else. It’s weird knowing that I was picked to be a creative in this life and I hope to truly live to my full potential and inspire other creatives into taking that leap, and fully embracing who they are.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

My dear friend and talented composer, Luke Chiocca, told me about this book called “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. I think it is a pretty popular book about developing better habits – habits that not only impact you personally, but professionally as well. I listened to the audio book and found the information so insightful and it made me think differently. I started to analyze and stop the bad habits I had acquired over the years; building good habits is definitely a big key to finding success in whatever walk of life you set yourself on. So, I definitely recommend it!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.renefilms.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renefilmsvp/
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/renefilmspro
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RenefilmsProductions

Image Credits
Mel Colón – Existential Behind the Scenes Guadalupe Garza – Portrait