By Harold Daniel
He runs a local film production company and now his latest project is taking on South Florida’s largest film festival.
Fabián Cárdenas graduated in 2007 from the University with a bachelor’s in theater. During his time as a student, Cárdenas was an immigrant and did not know how to speak the English language. He is the founder of Cinema 360 films, specializing in feature films, music videos and commercials.
“I came here with the whole desire to be someone, the typical American dream,” said Cárdenas.
After graduation, Cárdenas got into theater productions, becoming part of creating plays and making sure to reach out to people to attend the shows. However, with half-empty venues, the theater major doubted his capabilities.
“In that point I said, I have ideas and things I want to say that I need to communicate in a bigger form and that is the moment I said filmmaking is the way,” said Cárdenas.
The filmmaker has stamped a name for himself in the magic city, best known for his award-winning short film, “Desde el Alma” and “Freddie of Wynwood,” which was selected for the 33rd annual Miami Film Festival.
The passion for storytelling became known as Cárdenas spoke about his latest project, “#THECONNECTEDMAN.” The short film is 1 out of 11 selected for the film festival’s inaugural $10,000 Knight Made in MIA Competition.
“The film was an experimental play. We were looking to see how people are going to react to see themselves almost like a mirror,” said the filmmaker.
The filmmaker wasn’t working on projects for two years and was ecstatic to hear that his latest film was nominated for the prestigious award.
“I want to share that concept to see how people are going to react to my new project, negative or positive, I have learned that already,” said Cárdenas.
“#THECONNECTEDMAN” explores a society in a form of obsession with being on their phones. The film was made through projections for the iPhone, catching text messages through a white canvas.
“I, as a director, wanted to know how people feel to be watching someone else texting,” said Cárdenas.
Cárdenas hopes for more independence and finance opportunities for filmmakers in today’s film industry. He wants the industry to shift away from the business mindset and give filmmakers creative freedom.
“I have a script and the producer comes and says he loves my script but decided to change 99 percent of it,” said Cárdenas. “You really don’t love my script. You love the essence of the script and now you are going to change it because you as a producer have to make money.”
Cárdenas is looking forward to this year’s Miami Film Festival taking place from March 9 until March 18. “#THECONNECTEDMAN” will premiere on Saturday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m. in Miami Dade College’s Tower Theater.
“What I am looking for this year is this renewed energy at the festival. I see it already,” said Cárdenas. “I think that could be a really good base for the Miami Film Festival to go to the next level as a city and festival.”
Tickets for the 35th annual Miami Film Festival are now available at 2018.miamifilmfestival.com
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