Meet Saul Verde | Film Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Saul Verde and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Saul, how do you think about risk?
As the saying goes: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”. Sacrifice is like currency. We pay with one part of our life to receive another. That is what the exchange equivalence is about and that is why we have to be clear about the difference between the price and the value of things.

My entire life has been about risk taking. The films I do as well. My best stories have come from war sites in Nicaragua, others from slums in Mexico, jails in North America, crossing mile after mile, little towns where I could have stopped and lived and died in, alone.

I learned that artists are mistake-making creatures. We are built that way. Making films is not like an open heart surgery. For other professions a mistake can have lethal consequences. For filmmakers a mistake can open us to a new creative path. Filmmaking is a profession where mistakes can lead to a good outcome.

Keep this in mind: you can’t grow if you don’t leave your comfort zone. You are in control of everything. Leave those miserable relationships behind, the old house, those jobs that drain you, change countries/cities, languages, and go out and explore, life is out there. Why not lose one more time? What more can we lose after losing everything? The action is the limit between your goals and your imagination.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
I like to tell stories from a fractured point of view in society. The thin line between civilization and chaos is my field of cultural-symbolic approach. The bullied, the marginalized, the destroyed, the vulnerable, are the voices that narrate my stories. Many contemporary artists today are only concerned about the aesthetic and don’t care if they are portraying a message. I always ask myself if my message would be the same if I were a dancer or a painter, for example. If the answer is yes, then I’m being consistent with what I want to convey. Filmmaking is just another way to express myself.

My previous studies in Visual Arts and Journalism taught me to approach the world through questions and Filmmaking taught me to express it through actions. I usually do exhaustive investigative work and this has led me to interview presidential candidates and even murderers. It’s not enough to say: “It really happened” when you’re telling a story. You have to stop living life from a screen and explore what’s out there. In my opinion, archetypal stories are the ones that transcend and not stereotypical ones.

My filming method depends on the type of story. I like to experiment with the scenic movement of the actors on set. We usually rehearse a thousand times and film only once. Like Kundera, I dare to think that my characters are imaginary egos, that’s why I let the actors discover part of their role through their own lives. As a director my job is to adjust those expressions. That is the connection between the characters, the actors and me.

Getting to where I am today hasn’t been easy, mainly because I come from a country where Filmmaking doesn’t even exist as a professional career. That brought me to Mexico, where I was dropped from the film university I was attending due to personal reasons. However, that sacrifice led me to the U.S, to begin a new challenge at the American Film Institute (AFI). Starting over in another language and with different cultures. I learned to uproot myself and leave the idea of a nation behind, because in the end all we carry with us are our stories. The biggest lesson that I learned in this process is to love the storyline more than the outcome.

Trust the process!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would start by camping in the Everglades or John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. There is a lot of signature cuisine there. Next, I’d take them to the Frost Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art and virtual reality experiences.

For some entertainment, we can go to the Tower Theater in Little Havana, Olympia or the Adrienne Arsht Center for Performing Arts. Afterwards, a movie night at the Colony theatre Cinema or O Cinema South Beach, which is also part of the Beach Film Society, where experimental and independent films are shown.

I’m a fan of the cities night life. To close the itinerary, I recommend weekend parties, such as Space club or ATV Records. DJ’s from all over the world come to play here. You give yourself the pleasure of listening to good music, dancing and having a good time with friends.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
One of my favorite texts in life is Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s dedication to Leon Werth. “All old people have been children once, but few remember it”. That particular prologue makes me think of the child I once was and that I remember thanks to my parents. That is why I would like to dedicate this space to thank them, for giving me a wonderful childhood despite the austerity. We always had cameras at home, musical instruments and books that helped us develop our creative senses.

My dad became the first filmmaker in the family and he is my lifelong mentor. My mom taught me that fighting for what you want always hurts and is an open wound that we have to learn to live with. We never had limitations in what we dreamed of, experienced or what we did. The greatest gift they could give me was the absolute freedom to make mistakes over and over again.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saulverdect

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sa%C3%BAl-verde-castillo-0953a413a/

Other: Academy projects: https://vimeo.com/706246118

Image Credits
Black Maria Studio®, Nine Fingers Media®.