"Huyendo" Film Festival Fund
Donation protected
My name is Jonny, I'm a 24-year-old writer-director from San Diego. I've been making movies my whole life. here's a short video that shows some of my past work:
Logline of Film:
After a party ends in a tragic death, a gay couple races against the clock and a vicious drug dealer to find out why a life-saving ambulance was never sent.
Website Link:
Festival Page Link:
Social Link:
I connect to “Huyendo” deeply. Having parents that were born in Mexico inspired me to explore the cultural divide that I often feel as a first-generation citizen.
Having suffered from weekly anxiety attacks in my teen years, I’ve experienced the teenage drug scene firsthand. With this film, I strived to portray that stressful run-from-your-trauma lifestyle truthfully.
Taking lessons that myself and my team learned from that world, we're proud that we have been able to craft a story that promotes an empowering message of self-actualization and growth from past hardships.
“Huyendo” is shot and constructed in a way where past traumas from Angel’s life keep colliding and appearing in his present. Visually, he physically and mentally can’t escape his past. This collapsing world of anxiety keeps him from growing and causes his destructive behavior.
I hope to inspire resentful young people trapped in the past to learn from Angel’s story when in the end he escapes the past by facing his past traumas and emotions truthfully.
Lastly, a comment on the MiniDV format of the movie:
As an independent filmmaker, it's always been a struggle to get resources to make my movies. "Huyendo" is the fourth feature film I have written and directed in San Diego. This has only been possible because of the helpful San Diego community.
Hundreds of volunteers over the past 8 years have helped get my films made with free local-business locations, high-school art program participation, and donation of time from dozens of local actors, musicians, and artists.
This journey of producing micro-budget features since I was 16 years old has thought me to be very resourceful. And gave me a crash course on micro-micro-micro budget independent filmmaking.
All this culminated in my choosing to shoot "Huyendo" on a tiny home video MiniDV camcorder.
To take on the thesis of independent filmmaking head-on: Can a truthful story be all that's needed to capture an audience?
Can you actually make a feature for $15,000 and no resources? Do you need a high-tech camera and equipment? Or is all you need a vision and an authentic team that believes in it?
I'm hopeful that this film can inspire other young filmmakers to not wait for a million-dollar-check before they include their communities in telling a powerful story on a shoestring budget.
Why are we fundraising? In short, we are fundraising to be able to afford to submit our film to festivals across the country this year, and travel with the film to the festivals.
This will have a meaningful impact to push forward the careers of all the young artists involved in "Huyendo", as well as getting wider distribution options for the movie.
Thank you for your time in reading about our project. Even just $10 are super helpful to us. If you aren't able to financially support us but still want to follow our journey this year in getting our film seen and distributed; follow us on Instagram:
And check out our website:
Organizer
Jonny Santana
Organizer
Chula Vista, CA
