Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Orta Castellanos.
Jennifer, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I like to say I was destined to be a filmmaker the moment my parents named me after the main character in the film Love Story.
In high school not only was I the President of the AV Club but I started a monthly movie night in our auditorium playing everything from Star Wars to Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I got my college degree in Cinema Studies and Film Producing at New York University and then moved back to make movies in my hometown.
I started my career working at the Miami Film Festival coordinating their seminars and industry office.
Then I began to work in the Production and Location departments of studio productions that have come to film in town including Pain and Gain, Ballers, Graceland, Iron Man 3, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel to name a few. Over the last few years, I have been Producing and Directing several food travel shows including Carnivorous, Better with Age, and Here for the Food.
Yet 15 years into my career there were few projects on my resume that had been true Miami productions. All my colleagues and I have struggled to make passion projects on shoestring budgets and with few connections to get these films out into the world.
I wanted to find a way to foster more local productions, made and conceived by our local talent while still economically sustaining all the artists involved. And that is what we are working to do with Miami Film Lab.
This non-profit production company is supporting local filmmakers as they work to tell Miami stories and earn the livelihood they deserve. We are developing programs to provide professional and creative support to local filmmakers and ultimately begin to finance and produce films made by Miami talent and filmed in Miami.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I would say finding out that I was pregnant just months before a pandemic shut down the world was a curveball I never would have imagined.
Yet as hard as that was, and still is as the pandemic continues to linger three years in, I don’t think I would have launched Miami Film Lab had I not been forced to stop working so early in my pregnancy. Like so many around the world, the unexpected downtime allowed me to reevaluate what life could look like.
Not only did I want to create an organization that could offer the type of support I wish I had had as I started my career it gave me a unique chance to launch a new phase of my career that will eventually allow me the flexibility and work/life balance I have been craving for a long time.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We launched Miami Film Lab in the summer of 2021 and in one year we have:
Launched a YouTube Channel that regularly releases local short films so you can go to one location to see all the incredible talent working in town and the great variety of work being created
Invited filmmakers to our Development series, in partnership with the Miami Film Festival, that gives filmmakers the chance to take 5 one-on-one meetings with industry experts to help get their next project made.
Hosted the first Miami theatrical run of the film Critical Thinking directed by John Leguizamo at the Coral Gables Art Cinema which tells the story of Miami Jackson High Schools award winning Chess team
Have provided fiscal sponsorship to local filmmakers so that they can offer tax deductions to anyone that wishes to donate money towards their productions.
What makes you happy?
It makes me incredibly happy to see how well our film community has embraced what Miami Film Lab is working to do. So many talented people have already applied to our programs or reached out to us directly to collaborate and that means a great deal.
We are working to be inclusive of all the small pockets of filmmakers in our community that for too long have worked in isolation. More collaboration can only lead to more creativity and greater works of art and we are so happy to have made such large strides in such little time.
I must also say my son’s giggles make me the happiest of all but the why on that one is pretty self-explanatory.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://miamifilmlab.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miamifilmlab/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MiamiFilmLab/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/miamifilmlab
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPiKN46u6rI8MLlW7jXJPBA
Image Credits
Miami Film Festival and Coral Gables Art Cinema
