FIU Alum Gabriel Rhenals Showcases New Film “Death Cleaning”, Recorded on $55 Camcorder

Cosette Lipscomb | Staff Writer

Art can be expressed in many different forms, but all serve one purpose: to inspire.

Gabriel Rhenals, a Florida International University alumni, is a local award-winning filmmaker, writer and director.

Rhenals just released his third feature film titled “Death Cleaning”, available on Amazon Prime, YouTube and Tubi.

“Death Cleaning” is a drama comedy that follows a senator’s daughter that was sent to a rehab clinic, which was filmed and then later unearthed by a fleet of sentient robots who are trying to preserve the history of the human race, all of which was shot on a $55 HD Camcorder. 

The film also deals with themes of drug abuse, recovery and institutionalization, which can be seen through its setting and use of cinematography.

As to not spoil the film, Rhenals did not elaborate more on its contents, making sure that viewers were truly immersed in the plot when viewing it for the first time. 

While working on this movie, Rhenals remarked on how simple tech is effective in making a movie.

“[I] wanted to stress the fact that, like, you don’t need the big guns to make a movie,” Rhenals said. 

With a small budget and a solid plan, Rhenal’s was able to film the movie in the span of 13 days.

“Filmmaking is a constant problem solving,” said Rhenals. “There’s no other crew members, by the way, it’s just me working with all the actors and coordinating everything.”

Rhenals described the challenges of life and filmmaking, and how the two can affect each other. “Life is sometimes not quite as defined, and things can easily go off the rails,” said Rhenals.

“And there were times where it was very tense. You’re finishing with some actors, where you’re not quite done yet, and the actors are coming in, and you got to kind of facilitate and let them know where they have to go, and what they have to do, and how they prepare for what’s coming up,” said Rhenals.

Another setback to the production was the Screen Actors Guild strikes that took place back in 2023. 

Rhenals stated that, “There was one actress that I did employ on the film “Death Cleaning”, who was a SAG actress, and I had to do a little bit of bureaucratic work to kind of get the production approved as a SAG production, to have her on board, and it was a micro budget.”

Finding that work-life-balance was initially a struggle, but Rhenals was soon able to overcome that. 

“[Work-life-balance] was a bit difficult. But as I matured and I grew and I realized that I had the ability to balance in a more healthy, in a more dually productive way.”

In total, “Death Cleaning” took many months of writing, editing, production and filming in order for Rhenals to have a product he was happy with. 

Rhenals described the thrill of film making when reminiscing on his favorite moments.

“When you have the footage at your fingertips and you’re about to edit, I mean, that is the zenith of the filmmaking process for me, or at least the joy of that.”

Rhenals also stated that he is “Ecstatic when, after a good day of shooting, I come back home and I log and capture my footage…” 

At an early age, Rhenals always knew that he wanted to become a filmmaker.

After finding his first camera, Rhenals began making his own films.

“…That little bit of technology, that little card that you insert your computer and you have access to when you plug in your camcorder, changed my life,” said Rhenals.

When describing his early years in filmmaking, Rhenals has always been very enthusiastic about the entirety of the filmmaking process. 

“When I first got into filmmaking in a very professional way, even at that age, I knew that I wanted to take this very seriously, you know, storyboarding, writing scripts, recruiting actors.”

Rhenals’ time at FIU allowed him to focus all of his time on writing.

“Most of the time I was writing, or, like I said, if I wasn’t writing, I was actually active in producing a short film,” said Rhenals.

However, writing did not always come easy for Rhenals but during his time at FIU, he made sure to maintain a consistent schedule.

“I was really kind of trying to grapple with writing, which is like to me, 99% of the work done in filmmaking,” said Rhenals. 

“When I was young, I was really struggling with keeping up a good habit of writing, and then, you know, being able to craft the scripts and things that I was confident enough to get out into the wild with a camera and some actors and actually execute on it.”

However, his work ethic prevailed, allowing him to graduate in 2016 as a Communication Arts major, cum laude graduate, and maintain a 4.0 GPA over the course of 16 courses in the Communication Arts program.

Rhenals’s book “20 Years a Filmmaker” is also available in the Steven and Dorothea Green Library, alongside some of his father’s papers.

“I didn’t even know that until I went out and looked at it maybe a year or two ago, and saw that my dad had, in fact, already had something published and that was available in the Green Library collection,” said Rhenals.

Rhenals continues to plan on working on his own films in Miami.

Previous short films by Rhenals such as “The Promotion” and “Leo’s Love Letter” have won him many awards at the annual Miami Short Film Festival and other local events.

When asked for any advice to young creatives around the world, he said:

“If you love it, you’ll find the time…Just do it. Get out there.”