Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alejandra Alanis Ortiz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Alejandra , appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
Since I was a child, I was raised to be a problem solver, my parents always told me two quotes that stayed with me and I have tried to always apply them in life, “It’s not over until is over so try one more time” and “You already told how you can’t do it, now tell me how you can do it”. So I guess it comes from the way my parents educated me and how I decided to live.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I love writing stories, acting, directing, and being a film festival circuit manager. Being a film festival circuit manager is very fulfilling to me, for several reasons. The first one it’s the best way to have a win-win situation with your clients, they win official selections, or win finalists, or even better, they win, you as well win, you win being recommended by satisfied customers, and at the end of the circuit, they come back with another film and we start all over again. The second reason is, that it is very interesting to me to analyze films, breaking down their genres, and their strengths, and look for film festivals that celebrate those strengths.
The third reason and this one will seem kind of crazy but at the end of it all it is a competition and you are competing with your best elements. In the beginning, when my clients come to me, they send me their film for me to analyze I have to be objective so that we can enter these competitions prepared. When you get to be officially selected or win, it feels so exciting that you are winning together, they brought the film, and I brought the strategy, so just like in any other competition or team sport we are in this circuit together. So we go back to the win-win situation.
I do wish there would be more film festival culture, we all have this idea of the Category A festivals and they are amazing, we all want to win them but very few people accept Category B or any other Category thinking they are less important, and I just beg to differ. Each film has an essence, a profile, a soul, just like the Official Film Festivals despite their Categories, each one offers you different things and if we are open to see where can our film take us, we can open doors, make networking, take masterclasses, bring new pitches for new projects, etc… artists could take advantage of more opportunities. Especially if these artists pour their hearts, minds, soul, budget, and energy into their films, example if an artist has a Comedy film and wants to submit only to Horror film festivals, even if they want to be selected or win the film profile and the film festival profile doesn’t match, the same thing happens with the Categories of the film festivals and the profile of our movie.
We have to learn to identify the profile or essence of our movie and see if it has what the Category A festivals or any other category of film festivals focus on. The reality of screenwriting, acting, directing, producing, and competing in any film festival is that it takes courage. It takes courage to write a story, to act a story, to direct a story, to film a story, it is a combination of dreams, goals, passion, hard work, and courage, and just for that you are already a winner. Write stories for people to imagine, produce screenplays into films for people to feel, and compete in film festival circuits, for everybody to watch and hear you as you want to be heard.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The main important three qualities for me are empathy, passion, and honesty. Three skills or areas of knowledge, humility to accept that there is always something you can learn every day from somebody or some situation, the curiosity to always study something now or master something you already know. And last but not least, creativity, be a dreamer, despite what people may say, dream big and high, only there can you find your own story and uniqueness to show everybody your art.
These qualities, skills, and areas of knowledge were not easy to find, I discovered them from life lessons but once I got them, have been useful tools that have helped me in my journey to go farther and enjoy each moment along the way.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
My parents have accompanied me through my journey, they have been to my plays, watched my films, listened to my story ideas, and read my screenplays, my mom and dad were executive producers in my first professional film along with many more beautiful people who supported my project. Both of them advised me when I was starting a film festival circuit manager. on how to present my meetings and so much more. So for me, it is not one thing but the sum of many things from knowledge to support, encouraging me to believe in myself and that there is always a way, even if it’s not the one I thought it was, I just have to find it. I will forever be thankful to them, they are my support group, my net, my strength.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12209436/?ref_=hm_rvi_nm_t_9
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alejandra.alanis.ortiz/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alejandra.alanis.ortiz
- Youtube: @alejandraalanisortiz2286
Image Credits
I permit to use my photos, which I provide here only for the publication of this interview.
