Breaking into the film industry is a hard task to accomplish, but the challenges didn’t stop 32-year-old filmmaker Andrew Jara from releasing his new film Borderland in more than 100 different countries.
Born and raised in El Paso, Jara discovered at a very young age that storytelling and film was a career he wanted to pursue.
“I went to NMSU for film and I just loved it,” Jara said. “I actually started at UTEP. I did my basics and when I was there all the classes were theory-related so we didn’t get actual practice. UTEP had one class that was going to be a practice class and they canceled two weeks before the semester started and I switched to NMSU.”
After graduating from college, Jara made a film called The Last Ones, since then he’s been doing film on and off. According to Jara, it’s been six years since the last time he directed a film.
“We did The Last Ones when I got out of college, which was six years ago. I didn’t do anything after that. I went to LA for a while and worked at KFOX for three years because I wanted to fund a movie that I’m working on right now,” Jara said.
Jara used his hometown as a location to shoot the film. From houses to Scenic Drive, to some local bars such as Blackbird and the downtown area to expose El Paso as much as possible.
“Borderland is very much a dark thriller, but we wanted to add as much of our culture and just have fun with the different characters,” Jara said.
For Jara, working with local actors and artists is another way to push the boundaries and showcase some El Paso talent in his work.
Pablo Antonio Medina, 32, is a martial arts coach that brings to life one of the leading characters in the cartel thriller.
Medina, who’s been friends with Jara for many years now, said it was Jara who introduced him to acting ten years ago.
“Working on a project that is so close to home is that in a way it’s easy in a way, nowadays people tend to idolize the bad guys even though it is not the right choice,” Medina said. “The market is flooded with so much information, the interesting and unique part about it and the best thing is putting your own twist, ideas, and flavor to things.”
After six years, a company finally decided to buy Jara’s film Borderland, giving him the chance to expose his work with different video on demand companies, such as Amazon Prime, Vimeo, and Roku.
“For video on demand on Amazon the film will be in 67 countries and they’ll put it on Roku, which is for Europe and Asia,” Jara said. “They’re also working on the Spanish version of it to get it on the Spanish market, so in the end, it should be in 150 countries.”
Jara has also previously attended international film festivals, such as the Swedish International Festival, and the Latino Cinema de las Americas in Dallas.
He said that one of his goals is for people to watch the film and the money comes second.
“It feels good to go out there and promote the film, you feel like a celebrity and as soon as they watch the film, even if they don’t like it, it’s always great to see their reaction,” Jara said.
Claudia Flores may be reached at [email protected].
