Meet Iris Almaraz

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Iris Almaraz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Iris, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

I never found my purpose. My purpose found me in the trenches of a fire that a child should never have to pull themselves out of. I grew up around a lot of criminal elements with a mother who self-medicated her mental illness with illegal narcotics. Naturally, abuse and neglect were my childhood companions. My bedtime prayers were wails questioning my higher power, “Why would God put me through this hell on earth?” It was then that I learned to listen to an inner voice that consoled me. The voice always told me, everything I was going through was for a reason. I was meant to endure the pain because there were others who were going through worse than myself. The journey I was on was in place because I had a voice that could illuminate the darkness that many children can not. I believe my “purpose” put me here in this time, with this life, my strength, and this powerful voice for reasons beyond my full comprehension.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am a Chicana guerilla filmmaker out of East LA… and you wouldn’t believe how revolutionary that statement is. I unapologetically tell stories that illuminate female sexuality, generational trauma, and embracing the divine feminine power from within. Of course being a plus size woman of color, and of a certain age, is a constant struggle against the norms, so finding funding for my type of stories is a battle. I have been called the Chicana Fellini and compared to John Waters but I have to remind people that those two white males had difficulty finding funding for what they did as well. Imagine what it’s like being the weirdo and taking up space when it is expected for a marginalized person to strive for mainstream acceptance. However, this is the plane of existence that I live in. Luckily, large portions of society feel under-served in the entertainment arena. I am here for the odd-balls, the deviants, and the square pegs in a round hole world. It’s exciting to watch how film connects people with a community that gravitates around the magic of storytelling. The process of manifesting literally includes people living their variation of a dream. Filmmaking incorporates a thousand different journeys along the way, and when the film is delivered and presented to the world you really do feel like you just gave birth. Everyone from the reader giving notes on your script, to the college girl who finally feels seen after watching your film are present along the path you’re on. Where our stories intersect is when art becomes intimate and like intellectual lovemaking. Sometimes a lesson that I learned or was taught by my inner divine voice becomes a powerful statement when delivered by the right actress and received by the stranger it was unknowingly intended for. I am mostly a loner, so those moments of geeking out with another soul over cinema are pure magic. The salvation film has given me in my journey of transmuting trauma through art is what drives me to connect with youth who are knee-deep in some dark shit that they think few understand. I have been fortunate to work with an amazing organization called Operation Street Kidz, and the mission to help youth see their way through troubled times is the most rewarding accomplishment a storyteller like myself could ask for.

My current short film, “Red Onion” is making its festival circuit now, with some exciting announcements coming soon. The follow-up short film, “Rocketship” has just wrapped production. This is now my second project with producer Erin Ploss-Compoamor. The short film is a proof of concept for a feature script that was a finalist at the Sundance Development Lab. This is a passion project that reflects on my troubled childhood. I have teetered on telling this story in several of my previous films but this is the most personal retelling of a painful time in my life. Several of my feature scripts and two pilots are also at an exciting place. Two of the features I have under my belt are horror films which is a new territory for me, but my co-writer, Gabriel Moore-Topazio, has awoken my passion for the genre. I am thrilled to see the potential in creating cinematic art while addressing real-life atrocities that are becoming ever more present in our world’s current state.

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?

1. Making lists and goals that take things step by step has been the driving force behind my determination. Sometimes we get focused on the big destination and fail to recognize all the accomplishments we achieve along the way. I have a very elaborate goals and list system that is color coded, sized, and organized so that I can prioritize important issues over ones that can be moved to another day. This system also helps me from becoming overwhelmed, which can lead to burn out.

2. Have faith that what is needed will be fulfilled. It may not be exactly what you wanted, but you must make use of what you got.

3. Taking time to recharge is often forgotten in hustle culture. I add it to my list that way I know it is still part of my productive process. Sometimes it means staying in bed for six hours, listening to music, and traveling to other realms using only your mind. Other times it means walking on grass barefoot and then laying under a tree to watch the sunlight filter through the leaves.

Just start doing it. If you make a mistake, have a setback, or need to let someone go, then learn as much as you can from it. I find that I learn more from failures than I do from successes. Also, accept that rejection is par for the course. So keep moving forward, even if it is baby steps.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?

They are both valuable paths to take, and in some ways I have taken both of them as a filmmaker. Along the way there have been interests that I have a passion for, but my core is a cinematic storyteller. In film school, all I wanted to do was direct. I lacked confidence in my writing abilities and it took very confident people to bring me on as crew because I have a big presence. Editing became my first area outside of directing where I felt my creative voice could flow. Of course I needed scripts to direct, so I forced myself to write but people never saw on the page what I could do through the camera.

As the years progressed colleagues asked me to Assistant Direct, which is more managing the shoot than creative storytelling. I have a knack for understanding moving parts on a shoot and can anticipate issues that need to be resolved quickly. These are important qualities when you are battling the hours of a shoot day. After all these years of directing, editing, and assistant directing I am now halfway through obtaining my masters in screenwriting, at Stephens College, because I have learned the importance of the words on the page. It all starts with the blueprint of what will become a final product.

The directing has helped me understand the writing and the writing has helped me understand how to be a better director. Editing and assistant directing all affected each other. I would not say that I am a master of one area in filmmaking but being knowledgeable in areas that cover everything from log lines to camera lens effects has aided my communication with the people who are masters of their specific branch of filmmaking. Perhaps, the variety of elements that connect to make a film are what intrigues me the most. This keeps me on my toes learning and growing with each and every step.

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Image Credits

All photos by Jenn LeBlanc @jennleblanc

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