The direction of my work is inspired by my own experiences and upbringing as an Ecuadorian American immigrant.

How do you understand the power of storytelling?

Storytelling allows for our own reflections and histories to be celebrated and to better understand our own humanity by looking into and experiencing one another. By witnessing how people overcome, we are celebrating their resilient spirit and being reminded that we too can do the same within our lives. My hope is that I can empower people through my storytelling, empower them to take action against injustice and inequality, to heighten their awareness and sensibility to one another, and to learn that we all have a part to play in this world.

Your work also unearths broader issues of identity, community politics, poverty and the contentious challenges of immigration – has your own experience migrating to the U.S. as a young person informed, sensitized and/or guided your current projects?

My work is deeply influenced by my experiences living in the US as an immigrant. I migrated to the US when I was 9 with my parents. We came from Ecuador and ended up overstaying our visa for the chance of giving my sister and I a better opportunity. I was undocumented for the first 10 years upon arriving and constantly felt like I was living in the shadows, not having a social security number, not being able to have a valid license, not being able to work, or reunite with my family back in Ecuador. Ultimately feeling ashamed and withholding a secret. As a result, there was a lot of internal struggles with my own identity while growing up in high school, constantly feeling like I am the other, and not belonging. Not comprehending until much later that there is an antiquated immigration system in place that was to blame for the years of waiting to become a legal resident. After being here for 16 years, I got my citizenship. Back in those days, youth did not have the hope of the passing of the Dream Act, a bill providing conditional residency to students having lived here for more than 5 years--still has not passed but it’s very presence in Congress gives youth hope to pursue their dreams. Or DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), a memorandum passed last year giving temporary status to undocumented youth.

Nowawdays undocumented youth are coming out, they are no longer afraid to be who they are an therefore no longer being held back by their status. They are in the front lines, advocating, lobbying and demanding their rights to pursue their dreams and contribute to the place they call home. These experiences have given me strong convictions around a universal struggle that connects us all. We all feel sad, alienated, angry, afraid and have barriers to overcome—whether they be physical or mental, it is important to have an outlet of release, of rejuvenation, of recharge. So the thread in all my stories is finding those human beings that are going through tough times, but are doing something about it, they are in action, and being unstoppable. Those warriors are the type of stories that inspire and resonate with people today, reminding them of the injustices and hope that surrounds every situation.

I am passionate about telling stories showing people defying their odds amidst extreme adversity. In my recent short film Can’t Hold Me back, we follow a young Latino student from Detroit as he becomes the first in his family to earn a high school diploma in a neighborhood where there is nearly an 80% drop out rate, where the majority of youth are being lost to gangs, crime and poverty. Some of the key aspects my directing partner Madeleine Bair and I chose to convey are the importance of love in a young man’s life, and the possibility to turn a vicious cycle around. In this case, among the factors leading to Fernando’s successes was the love and support from an unlikely figure: his father—a former gangster who has suffered the cost of his own mistakes.

We also loved that Fernando had taken classes and new about video production from the hip hop community organization he was deeply involved with, hence we armed him with a flip camera, so he could records his own struggle to understand why aspiration is so rare among his community. His video diaries and interviews with important people in his life are woven into this intimate chronicle of a young Latino determined to succeed. I love this story because it demonstrates the importance of love in a young man's life, and the possibility to turn a vicious cycle around.

Maracuya is a bi-cultural production company that is a little over one year old. The word Maracuya means passionfruit in Spanish, and at the time, my producing partner, Madeleine Bair and I were searching for names and this one stood out as one who’s fruit we both love and represents the fruits of our passion. The mission of Maracuya Productions is to produce high quality documentaries that provoke dialogue and positive change on issues of globalization, equity, justice, and our changing world.

What are some of the challenges that have led to opportunity on either a personal level and/or professional scope? Can you give an example of an endeavor that enlightened your own determination?

Working on my first feature length film, DreamTown has been a 6 year endevour and a wonderful opportunity for others to see me for the person I am and the kind of stories I love to tell. Two years ago, I did a kickstarter campaign in order to raise funds for production. Our goal was to raise $40,000 in four weeks. If you don’t know about kickstarter, it is an all or nothing campaign, so if $40,000 was our goal, raising $35,000 would not enough, it needed to be $40,000 in order for us to keep the funds. We took a huge leap of faith that we would make our goal and that was probably one of the biggest challenges we took on. I don’t think I was ever tested as much as I was for that time period nor had I ever worked as hard as I did that month. Looking back it was not at all a healthy balance. In fact, there was so much at stake that I was very much out of balance but along with big sacrifices, come big rewards. The outpour of people that helped the cause and backed our project was a testament to the story and our hard work. With the help of more than 3,000 people, we were able to make our goal. I thought I would never again do a campaign, but here I am, two weeks later, about to launch our next campaign to be able to finish post-production and get this film to international audience.

This is a universal story of unsung heroes, the pursuit of dreams and the sacrifice that is involved to reach your objective. The questions I want to leave people with are what does is take for a marginalized community to inspire and empower its people? and can a sport be the way out of systemic poverty? In this case, it creates a false pipeline of hope for many youth that believe soccer is the answer. Slowly they learn, after years of committing to soccer, quitting school and giving up everything to make it, that only one in 300 make it professionally. We also learn from our soccer hero and two time World Cup player, Ulises De La Cruz, that in order for people to rise and go after their dreams, we need to empower them by education. Soccer is not the solution. The other message I want to bring to audiences is to never forget where you come from, to pursue your dreams and to give back.

This story is still in production and it is a six year labor of love project that has tested all my faith in its making. In many ways, our team is reflection of the players, not giving up until we see it through. In two weeks, we will be doing a kickstarter campaign to finish post-production. Our goal is to raise $40,000 to complete post-production and be able to hire an editor to edit crucial scenes into our storyline. Our aim is to bring this story to an international audience before the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Join our mailing list, updates on upcomings, like our FB page here: DREAMTOWN