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

Crystal Ruby, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I’d say all my projects are incredibly meaningful to me, honestly. I’m a filmmaker, but I like to think of myself more of a well-rounded artist in general. Whether it’s writing songs to get through my own personal pain, or painting whatever my heart feels deep inside, there’s always parts of my heart and soul I pour into my art.

I will say however, the most recent project I’ve worked on that is incredibly meaningful to me is my 2024 short film, “Stalling.” That was my first real short film that I wrote, directed and edited with my first solid, amazing team; especially thanks to the Media Arts Department at East Los Angeles College, where I studied filmmaking and showcased it at their student film premiere. The film encapsulates a strong message about communicating how you feel towards your loved ones before it’s too late. It also deals with multiple taboo and real-life serious issues in the world today.

Filming it was actually really difficult due to the fact that my skeleton crew and I were only given about 5 days to film in a very limited period of time. Actually, it was more about 4 days with one extra pick-up day in total. But it meant a lot to me because the film is based on my own real life experiences and things I’ve been through in my life.

When I was a student at ELAC, I was part of two different student film crews for some period of time, and due to creative differences, they joined together into one huge film crew, and unfortunately, I am no longer part of their team. Slowly for about a year, they gained a ton of respect and recognition as they worked together on a vast amount of films while I, unfortunately struggled to find a good crew for myself. (Sometimes, you just don’t work well with certain people, but that doesn’t mean anyone is fault. It just means you gotta find your people and that’s okay.)

After a while, I finally found the amazing crew I have today! I told them about “Stalling” and how I felt that that was my chance to finally show everyone what I can do.

There were so many struggles and obstacles that came my way when making this film, but thanks to the hard work from my great crew AND great cast, we got it done in 4 days! And being on a strict deadline, my incredible Director of Photography and I edited the entire thing for 13 hours, 7 days straight. And thankfully the final product turned out great. We showed it at the school premiere alongside another short film of mine, (“Blood Sisters”), and the Media Arts Department’s student films. Many people criticized it, but many others were incredibly touched by the story of the film.

Oh my gosh, it felt amazing to hear the audience’s reactions in the theatre. I wish I could’ve recorded it. It was the coolest thing ever to hear the audience screaming at the characters on the screen as they held on to edge of their seats! To hear afterwards how so many people ended up in tears by the end of it? I will remember that night, forever!

Overall, this project, and what it took to get it done, earned me the respect and recognition I was longing for as a filmmaker after leaving the other crew and I will forever be grateful for that.

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.

Well, I’m a 25 year old independent, Latina filmmaker. I’ve always wanted to make movies since I was a little kid. It’s funny, I really wanted to make my own movies and star in them. Kinda like a Jackie Chan, Woody Allen kinda feel. My dad and I have always been huge movie fanatics and I’ve always loved how watching a movie could really help you escape reality and dive into a whole nother universe. You’re able to dive into the world of whatever you want, where the struggles of your reality don’t exist.

Growing up, I’ve gone through lots of very traumatic experiences and extremely tough times in my life. So movies, along with other creative and artistic activities, really helped me get through those tough times.

Although, I always knew I wanted to direct movies, the funny thing is, I kinda wanted to be everything. The older I got, the more I learned other skills and talents. I started drawing at the age of two and drew a lot of cartoon characters as a kid. The older I got, the more surreal my drawings became, which later lead up to me drawing mostly a lot of realism portraits.

I started doing photography and photoshop when I was 11. Then began making small videos and editing them into these little dumb “movies” which are actually so funny to look at today.

Music has always been another important factor in my life. At 5 years old, my uncle bought me my very first guitar: A black electric Yamaha. So I played and played (not very well, as a five year old kid) almost every day thinking I was going to become the world’s youngest rockstar. Eventually, in my teen years, I eventually DID teach myself to play well, and I wrote journals and journals of poetry and songs about many things in my life such as heartbreak, abuse, mental illness, trauma, etc. Writing and playing became another huge thing I was extremely passionate about. I wrote everyday and learned as many songs to play on my guitar as I could. Eventually, in my late teens, I dove into trying to learn how to produce music and started out mixing and sampling on GarageBand. Which then, turned into learning Logic and ProTools. Overtime, and throughout MANY years, I got pretty good at it. But unfortunately, everything I did was self-taught, there was only so much “better” I could get. The schools I attended as a kid, didn’t have music classes for me to take like I wanted. So it was actually extremely hard for me to get better through YouTube University. It took me forever to learn how to make great music. Performing as a musician, was another thing I was never able to do as well. Despite what many believe, I’ve always actually been a really shy and reserved person due to the immense amount of social anxiety I obtained in my teen years. Every time I had eyes on me, I would freak out and freeze in fear. Honestly, for years I would often cry, believing that being the musician I dreamed of being was just not for me. And it sucked, because music was always such a huge and important part of my life and I wanted to inspire others the way my favorite musicians inspired and helped me. I wanted to be great. I grew up on the low side of middle class also, so music classes were not much of an option for me.
Later on, in my early twenties, I took more music classes in college and learned so much about music, that honestly only classes and professionals could teach me and NOT anything I could learn on my own. And thankfully, I’ve gotten so much better at making music. But I still felt something a bit off about that career path.

When I first attended college, I wanted to take film classes. The schools I attended as a kid didn’t give me ANY opportunity to take creative classes so I was excited to take as many creative art classes as I could! Eager to learn filmmaking, I discovered that the community college I attended, didn’t have any film courses. So throughout my early twenties, I took the major that was closest to that: Theatre.
I always wanted to be an actress and star in movies, if not my own or both, so a full path in acting? Why not!?

Eventually I became so engulfed in theatre and took every class the theatre department offered, alongside many Philosophy, English, and Psychology classes as well. (My back up careers) Taking those courses honestly helped fix my social anxiety so much. I used to be this shy, quiet girl to afraid to be seen. But now, thanks to theatre and all the skills I learned, (acting, directing, voice work, movement work, business in presenting yourself, scriptwriting, costume making, special effects makeup, lighting design/technician, sound design, stagehand, scenic painting, etc.) Talking and socializing has become so easy to me now. Thanks to many skills I learned in that department, I am now the Crystal that proudly shines today.

But again, something still didn’t feel quite right.

After a few years, I discovered a new department in the works at that college. The Media Arts Department opened an entire new world I’ve searched for, for so long: Filmmaking.

Now, I’ve always been an over-achiever. I always worked hard and sometimes without rest. I had a job that I worked full time at and attended College full time at the same time. Even when I took a break from school during the COVID-19 pandemic, I worked at my physical-labor job 6 days a week, for 13-14 hours straight. I know exhaustion.

However, when I began the new film classes after the pandemic, nothing prepared me for how amazing I felt making movies. It’s funny, I was supposed to take the beginner level film class and work my way up through intermediate and eventually advanced. But I accidentally enrolled in the beginner class and the advanced class at the same time! My professor wasn’t sure if I would be able to handle it, so he recommended I just start out in the beginner level. But thankfully, something inside struck him to give me a choice: I can take the beginner level class only, or I can take both the beginner and advanced class together if I felt like I could really do both at once. I told him, I was able to do it and he allowed me to stay in both courses, insisting he was going to be extra hard on me. I took the challenge.
What ended up happening, was I was then part of two film crews: the beginner level crew, and the advanced level crew.
I also sat in through some of the intermediate classes as well and helped out some of the students there for some extra knowledge.
Needless to say, I ended up working on 15 short films in three months.
I worked (freely) for 18 hours a day, seven days a week trying to prove myself. Thankfully, I did.

Throughout my life, I’ve done almost every form of art as an artist. I worked hard with passion for everything I did, but no matter how hard I worked, none of the other arts felt right. I never felt like I belonged in each area, no matter how passionate I was about it…

Until I started making films. In areas I worked all day, every day for the things I wanted, at some point, they all felt like I chore. Music and Theatre included. And there definitely were times I would become so overwhelmed when it came to making music, or art, or acting in shows, or being backstage at a show where I was hit with the thought, “ugh I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m tired of all this work.”
But filmmaking never felt like that. Not once was I ever hit with that thought. In fact, I couldn’t get enough! I wanted to be part of more and more film projects!
Finally, in three months, I found what I always knew deep down, was my true calling. I am supposed to inspire and help people through making films.

Now I’ve learned, that not everything you do is something you have to be the absolute best at. At the end of the day, the thing you’re made to do in this life is the thing that comes with natural ease and will never, ever feel like a chore. Not even for a second.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I think the most rewarding part of it is healing yourself from things THROUGH your art, that still weigh heavy, deep in your heart. Especially if you don’t fully understand what you feel or why you feel it yet. It’s the perfect outlet.

Another thing is also knowing that your art also helps heal others on a similar journey that you’re on; and gets them to really stop and FEEL for a moment. It’s really beautiful.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Well, actually, I don’t believe that there are people out there that aren’t creative. Most people also say things like, “I’m not creative at all,” or “I don’t have a creative bone in my body,” and personally, I don’t think that’s true. Everyone has it in them to create art, because most people have the ability to feel emotion. That’s all art and “being creative” really is. It’s pouring out what you feel onto a canvas; and that canvas can be anything whether it be fashion style, a bare face waiting makeup, dance expression, an open-mic, taking photos, baking, or even just a literal canvas. I think most people don’t give themselves the opportunity to try. When you give yourself the chance to sit with yourself for a moment, and just let your heart guide you, you can really create some beautiful things in life.

As an artist, I’ve been told many times in my life, “why do you this,” why bother,” or “you don’t have to try so hard, it’s not like you’re famous.” I think often times what some people fail to understand is that it’s not about trying to get famous or rich, and while that is a cool dream to think about, I feel it’s really about having that freedom to express what you’re feeling or even a message to the world in a beautiful way. I think a lot of artists are big perfectionists, myself included. So when something we created doesn’t come out exactly the way we intended for it to, we freak out a little bit on the inside. But the funny thing is, that imperfection just adds another beauty to the mix.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miss.pale_flesh/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@thefreakyone5?si=kiEWfoTH-2cWUCiC

Image Credits

Kane Walker
David Fuentes