Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mark Garcia. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Mark, 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?
Around 2013 is when I realized that there was a shift towards digital media and there was a demand into the area of commercial and documentary work. Having an educational background in medical field, it was a leap of faith diving on a creative path professionally but the amount of fun I experience along the way superseded the doubts in me so I kept going. Since then, the job never really felt like work.
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 grew up in the Philippines and moved out of the country since 2012. I’ve lived in a small country in the Middle East called Bahrain for decade where I spent most of my career as Filmmaker before moving here in Washington DC. Bahrain, as opposed to what many people would think, is a total vibe. I’d like to think of it as “The Vegas of the Middle East”.
I was fast-tracked on learning a lot of cultures. Immersing in a tight knit community where almost everyone knows each other, that helped me on my career in Filmmaking. It was easy to connect with the right people, be mentored by great minds, and pick up important skills from an industry with a lot of resource.
I’ve worked mostly on commercial and documentary projects as an Editor and/or DP and every now and then, I’d pick up broadcast projects working as a camera operator.
My passion relies mostly on creating documentary films. There’s something in me that feels it’s my purpose to bring untold stories of real life people into the world and having that experience of travel, immersion in different cultures and living outside the box, it gave me an unbiased, third person’s view of telling a story much broader.
One of my most project that I am proud of is a short documentary I shot called “Abot-kamay” (within arm’s reach).
It’s a story of a guy named Jess, who is born without both arms. The story revolves on his day to day living by doing different money making hustles in the streets of Manila and the challenges he faces along the way. This film has been premiered in “Positively Different Film Festival” in Athens, Greece where I was honored to be invited to attend the screening. Since then, the film garnered 5 more screenings around the world.
I continue to work on passion documentary projects with the goal of continuously putting everyday hero stories as my art. My eyes and ears are always open on potential stories that needs to be told.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
That Arabs and the religion of Islam isn’t what it is portrayed on the western media.
I grew up Christian and living in the Middle East, I had my thoughts coming in, but that region has welcomed me in so many ways.
Found amazing friends that turned into family, understood what real safe environment means, abundance and prosperity.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
2010 is when I got my degree in the field of Nursing. I was good at it but I knew back then that I wanted to do something else.
It took me 2 years and multiple career paths before seeing a shift towards digital media.
What was a hobby of filming videos, turned into freelance gigs, then to temp jobs and the next thing I knew, I was working full time as camera operator and editor for a production company.
Time flew by much faster because I enjoyed every process on this field.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.markgarcia89.wordpress.com
- Instagram: @macgarcia89
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.garcia8
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/markgarcia89
- Other: Showreel: https://vimeo.com/815916050
