Filmmaker with Merced roots returns to hometown, telling story of youth incarceration
Local filmmaker Rodrigo Reyes recently wrapped up shooting on his latest feature film earlier — a project he has been working on for more than eight years.
It’s a movie based off a personal interaction he had with an inmate while working as a Spanish interpreter for Merced County Superior Court.
Reyes, 37, and his crew shot scenes for the currently untitled film in Mexico, Merced and Planada before finishing up at the The Art Kamangar Center in downtown Merced.
“Its a movie about a real kid who grew up here in Merced and got in trouble and ended up being sent to prison,” Reyes said. “So this movie is about my friendship with this real person. We’re working with a real actor here from Merced. We’re recreating this kid’s entire story before he was caught and got in trouble and had to serve his sentence.”
Reyes grew up in Merced, graduating from Merced High in 2001. He studied international studies at UC San Diego, but learned his film-making skills as a hobby. He recently moved to Oakland to take advantage of more film opportunities.
This latest project is his fifth feature film and the second one shot in Merced County. “Lupe Under the Sun” was filmed in locally in 2014.
Reyes has been recognized with several awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Creative Capital Award. His films have been screened at prestigious film festivals including the Tribeca Film Festival.
He cast local youth in his latest film, including Gerardo Reyes, 18, who plays the person who was incarcerated.
Gerardo, who is no relation to Rodrigo, graduated from Golden Valley High this past spring. He was in an ag class when his teacher asked him if he’d be interested in the project.
“I’ve never done anything like this,” Gerardo said. “Everything was new for me. I just gave it my best shot. The experience has been really interesting and inspiring. It’s a real life story that really happened. I’m telling the story as an actor playing the person who was incarcerated.”
Rodrigo said they looked all over the state for actors. It was a friend at Golden Valley who told him about Gerardo.
“It turns out he’s a natural talent,” Rodrigo said. “He’s able to perform on the spot. He doesn’t need a lot of rehearsal.”
The film covers the incarcerated lead character from his childhood.
“He was a young Mexican kid,” Reyes said of the person who inspired the lead character. “He was an orphan who came out here to Merced and made a terrible mistake. I met the real person. I was his interpreter for his case. It’s something that happened in Merced. Once he was sentenced, (we) became friends. I started writing him.”
Reyes plays himself in the movie. “The movie looks at who should be responsible?,” Reyes said. “Is it society or the individual?”
Reyes says the project has been supported by Sundance, Tribeca, Guggenheim and PBS. It will eventually be shown on PBS, scheduled to be released in 2021.
The coronvirus pandemic has forced Reyes to alter his plan for the movie. He’s had to limit his crew, undergo multiple COVID-19 tests with his crew and alter the shooting schedule.
“We’re a small set,” Reyes said. “We’ve had to cut out a lot of people. We have to get tested all the time, we have temperature checks. We follow the CDC guidelines strictly.
“Because of COVID we had to re-imagine the movie, but it actually has helped it be really special and I think it’s going to put Merced out there. People are going to see it across the country because this film will hopefully be on PBS one day.”
Reyes calls this movie the biggest project of his career and he’s grateful for the people who allowed him to finish the movie in Merced. He said he hopes to screen the movie in Merced once the COVID-19 pandemic is under control.
“We all love movies,” he said. “We have to keep our movies going. We have to keep our artwork going so we found a way to make it work. The Kamangar Theater really helped us to make it happen.”.
