We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Abel B. Padilla. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Abel below.

Abel , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

It was when I was around 16 years old. I wanted to be an audio engineer, but I was uncertain about it. I loved listening to music, but I wanted to know if I was passionate enough to follow that path in life. Around those years, I also went to the cinema often with a good friend, Alejandro Dupont. We would go every Friday and catch the releases of the week. Sometimes, we would spend the whole day watching whatever films would be released that day. We spent an entire year or two doing that every Friday. Eventually, probably because of those Fridays, I had an urgency to start filming small clips with my phone that resembled frames from the films I loved. Then, I started recreating some scenes. The natural evolution of that was that I would love to start making videos with the goal of writing and directing a film. I moved to Toronto, Canada, where I enrolled at the Toronto Film School, and over there was when I said, “Ok, I feel I can do this.” Not because of the technicalities but because of the joy I felt daily by being a crew member and learning from all the directors doing films there. I wasn’t working as a director or in any creative positions in my years in Canada. I was more like a student on every set. A fly on the wall observing and helping. I finished the 18-month Diploma and moved to Los Angeles in 2019 to continue my studies at the Los Angeles Film School. Here, I felt confident working as a cinematographer in short films from friends, which eventually led me to direct my first couple of projects.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a filmmaker. I balance work between being a cinematographer and a director, both with a different approach. As a cinematographer, I have worked on narrative short films, fashion films, and experimental, but most of my clients as a cinematographer stay in the music industry. I have been fortunate because one of the producers who hired me the most was somebody I met at film school, Drew Dempsey—leading me to contribute a lot of video content for the Sunset Sound Recorders YouTube channel which Drew produces and hosts. Sunset Sound is a legendary recording studio in the heart of Hollywood where The Doors recorded their first album, Toto recorded there, Prince, and many more. It is always a privilege when I get a message from Drew requesting my services.
On the other hand, I have worked with close friends. One example could be Dzasko. We met in Sunset Sound through a friend in common, Mario Nakasone. Whenever I collaborate with Diego, aka Dzasko, on a project, it feels like friends creating art at a personal level.
As a director, it is different. I work with Gold Lamp Films mainly when it comes to directing. Directing a film is sacred. It is my main channel of expressing emotions. It is a therapy. That is why, for me, it is essential to work with production companies that respect the directors’ process. I value working with Gold Lamp Films because they are a directors-driven content production company. They make directors feel comfortable and confident. The projects I have directed for Gold Lamp Films are personal short films. As of now, we are finishing the audio design with Dzasko for a short film, Therapist of the Year, which is my thesis, and I am proud of it. I can say is probably the first short film we will release during the film festival season. Also, we are crowd-funding our next project, “The Ox,” which we expect to shoot by the beginning of next year.

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

Healing your soul. It is really special to have that relief when finishing a project and releasing it out there. Because at the beginning, you as an artist are attached to the project, and you can see its roots within yourself. But always, in the end, releasing it to the world means it is not yours anymore. It is the people’s project. First, you as an artist are attached to it, but when the audience creates that deep connection with your work. Few words can express how beautiful it feels when the work connects.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Follow the trends. I am not saying this is a bad lesson, but I feel that whenever you want to follow a trend, that is not in your voice or in your frequency. Disaster happens. I can tell that from a personal experience. I found myself creatively lost whenever I followed trends that were not in me because it felt more like connecting the dots rather than the experimentative exercise that creating a piece of work is to me.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.abelbpadilla.com
• Instagram: @abel_b_p

Image Credits
Miles Bitton, Alexis Rodriguez Ruiz, Ailu Kim