Diversity in Film with Gianfranco Fernández-Ruiz

Wine:

BIO:

Gianfranco Fernández-Ruiz (the hyphen is silent) is a Salt Lake City-based, AfroLatinX writer/director, whose emphasis on character marks culture as integral to identity, but second to story. His work mirrors the frail and current socio-political climate with tongue-in-cheek dialogue and nuanced behavior that give characters depth and relatability, distinct but somehow common--a feat that has drawn attention from the Sundance Labs (a 2021 finalist), Nicholl’s Fellowship & Screencraft Competitions.

He and Zach Johnson, lifelong friends and cinephiles, work to bridge the gap between the siloed other and the mainstream, focusing on simple slices of life and relationship dynamics. Gianfranco’s stories are a bright mix of the beats, verve, and rhythm of the tribal-and-Dominican-native tambora drum and the urban percussion of 90s boom-bap. For him, film is about discovery, catharsis and decolonization.

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