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

Hi Alejandra Alanis , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I am glad to be here, thank you very much for your kind invitation, my story of risk-taking, yes well there’s a story. I’ll try to be as brief as possible, as an artist we understand that sometimes we have to explore different areas in the art industry from the one that bought in the first place. Well, that’s what happened to me at least, when I was growing up, I wanted to be an actress and a writer but later in life, I understood that teachers can also have their bad days and moments. So, from loving my writing class I went to just writing as a hobby, just for me, I wouldn’t share my stories easily. So, I kept dreaming of being an actress, but I turned up to be good at sports as well, and I got a scholarship to study high school and college. I paused my dream of being an actress until I graduated college. I felt empty as if I wasn’t living up to my potential, so thanks to my mom who encouraged me to study acting, I went back to studying while I was already working. During the acting classes, I discovered directing, and I took some writing classes just to learn more.

I had been working for a creative and smart director, who obviously I admire, Misael Morales, and who founded the FICMA film festival. I learned everything I could from him for the next 3 years, working for him was like going to film school and he was so unselfish in sharing with me all that he knew. I am a survivor of the 2017 earthquake that hit Mexico City and, everything stopped, there wasn’t any job available, I was still the 1stAD of the director of the film festival but we didn’t know if there was going to be a film festival that year after the earthquake, so I would make sandwiches and take them to the people who needed them and write. Talking to my mom, she told me that I should consider producing one of my stories, turn it into a short film, or move back home; but I wasn’t ready to give up, not yet. I took a deep breath and I got together with a director who later became a good friend, we co-directed my short film based on my story and I asked everybody to sign a release, a contract that stated that nobody was allowed to share any material of the short film so we could send it in a film festival circuit of category A film festivals. Everybody understood this except for a person, in spite of singing and knowing this person decided to ignore and publish our clackers photo with the info of the short film and everybody who worked there.

I got a message from one of the festivals saying that we would be disqualified for submitting a film that had been released, they were really nice and gave us 24 hours to withdraw or delete the photos instead of disqualifying us. I found the person asked to delete the photos but this person didn’t agree to do it and disappeared for 3 days. So, I took the decision to withdraw, but I have to admit, it was hard. I sat down and analyzed my two options; I could give up and not have a film festival circuit or I could see what film festivals were in other categories that would accept my short film with photos of the BTS published and so it began. So, I decided to take a risk, I investigated and studied, and I started a new film festival circuit. I started having good results and official selections, nominee status, and winning film festivals.

Thank God that some film festivals have workshops and seminars you can take, something that I love about film festivals. At one of the film festivals, there was a seminar about film festival circuits, what to do, and how to do it, of course, I applied everything that I learned and asked the speaker where I could learn more, so he recommended me book and courses, later it wasn’t just my short film but I had acquired clients and so that is how started my business and how I became a film festival circuit manager.

Alejandra Alanis , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am Alejandra Alanis Ortiz and I am an independent artist, I am a writer, an actress, a film director, and a film festival circuit manager. I am Mexican and I started my artistic career at 22 years old, just graduating from college with a BA (Business Administration), from the moment I started studying to become an artist I have studied and worked all at the same time. I live in Mexico, and I have been an artist for 15 years from which I have been a film festival circuit manager for 6 years.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

The hardest thing about being in a business is honest when things don’t come out as you planned but you choose to be honest you will gain the client’s trust, your word and advice a strong value because they know they can trust you instead of sugar coating the situation to see how to fix it. For example, when somebody doesn’t have a film that you can send to a film festival circuit, be honest and tell them and you can even help them by advising them what they can improve otherwise is a waste of time and money and that’s not fair.

For me, what has been the most effective way to work is love and empathy, empathy to understand what your client is going through, what that film means to them, and what they went through and sacrificed to produce it. I don’t take that lightly, and love, well you can’t care for a project you don’t love just like you can’t see the potential to win.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I have worked on two preview projects with a director for whom I had also been a film festival circuit manager for one of his films, he got 21 awards all the way from official selections to winnings, to n, finalist, and honorable mention. So, he asked me to do the same for two more projects but since he had just filmed, he told me he didn’t have a budget to pay me, he could only offer to make me part of the crew in his next project. I didn’t agree and refused, at that time he would call me a friend but since I said no, and explained to him that a business is based on income and not favors. I didn’t want a hobby, I wanted a job, from where I could pay my monthly expenses. He didn’t agree, he said I should do it for my love of the art and cinema. He stopped talking to me from that day on but it’s okay, I understand that we don’t have to agree on everything.

This is one of the many factors why people think that artists are poor and never have any money, we must value our own time, work, and talent. I was talking to one of my brothers and my sister-in-law, asking them if I had reacted the correct way. I admit that I had my moments of hesitation, my brother Mauricio in his wise words told me something that I have been carrying in my mind and heart ever since. “If a true friend believes in your talent and work, he or she will find a way to pay in full for your talent and service instead of asking for a friendly discount. That is the difference between fake friends who want an advantage from you and a true friend who wants to see you succeed.” My sister-in-law Hailey told me to “Trust in yourself and talent, so you are not afraid to charge your work’s worth”. These motivational words that have stuck with me until this day, and I am very grateful.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alejandra.alanis.ortiz/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alejandra.alanis.ortiz
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12209436/?ref_=hm_rvi_nm_i_5