Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel and Laz: The Brothers Nunez.
Hi Daniel and Laz, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
We were born to and raised in Miami, Florida by Cuban immigrants. Since we were very young, we have had a love for storytelling. Our mother, a teacher, instilled in us an appreciation for literature, while our father, a blue-collar worker turned entrepreneur, bonded with us primarily with trips to the movies. Growing up, we delved into and practiced all sorts of storytelling and art: writing, music, drama and eventually film. As teenagers we honed in on Cinema, but kept Theatre and Literature close.
We finally found the opportunity to begin our formal studies at Florida’s prestigious Full Sail University. Since then, we have been producing and directing independent films, with minimum budgets and maximum ingenuity. Slowly but surely, our audience (and our budgets!) have been growing.
With ‘The Brothers Nunez’, as our pseudonym, we love to take classical motifs and incorporate them into modern storytelling. We also love to showcase our home of Miami, utilizing it as a ‘character’ in itself, in much of our work.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road’s definitely been more than bumpy! But most people who choose a career in film know the struggle. Our challenges began with us being the first in our family and in our network to become filmmakers, so we had absolutely no connections in the industry. And second, we decided to return home to Miami after film school, rather than moving to LA. This was for a couple of reasons. First, we honestly love our city and county. And second, we noticed that authentic Miami stories are severely lacking. Whenever a film has been set in Miami, most of the primary authors have been outsiders and we wanted to offer real Miami voices. Some of our favorite filmmakers were artists that told stories and shot films in their own neighborhoods, and we wanted to do the same. Starting out, as we began developing a track record, though we love Cinema of all sorts, we became enamored by the French New Wave and other independent films, and their ingenious stylistic choices, telling powerful stories for smaller budgets. We were inspired to do the same in Miami, like Scorcese in New York, or Bergman in Stockholm, or Godard in Paris.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As we touched upon earlier, we like to express deep mythological motifs filtered through us and our own experiences. For much of our career up to this point, we’ve attempted to tell stories inspired by classical motifs in a modern setting. That’s not to say we don’t plan on telling more epic stories set in different times and places but it’s been fun and deeply fulfilling, expressing stories in an authentic South Floridian voice.
Our latest film, “The Magnificent Mendez”, we believe, is a culmination of over a decade of work. It’s the climactic end of a chapter and an explosive opening to another in our career. This Drama-Thriller uses the film industry as a backdrop to tell a tragic story in the tradition of Ancient Greco-Roman drama and Shakespeare, but set in modern Miami. Also inspired by the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Magnificent Mendez” is a dream-like journey of intrigue, romance, action and layered philosophy. Visually, it weaves in and out of Cinematic styles, with its heart and soul anchored in the traditions of the French New Wave movement. Though admittedly stylistic in nature, our intent was to keep the movie as accessible and entertaining as possible without sacrificing our artistic vision. The film is completed and recently we hosted an exclusive advanced screening. We received an enormous amount of positivity and are planning another advance screening soon, as we search for a distributor and consider festivals! Excited to share where you can catch it next soon!
Catch the two trailers at our website: http://www.thebrothersnunez.com/select-films.html
More info on the film at its IMDb Page: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt38286527/
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Feel free to check out our work and reach out to us at: www.thebrothersnunez.com
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.thebrothersnunez.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danny_da_twin/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danny.datwin
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thebrothersnunez
