Today we’d like to introduce you to J.I. Mardones.
Hi J.I., can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I am J.I. Mardones, Chilean/Texan filmmaker born in Austin TX, in 1987.
In 1992 me and my family moved to Santiago de Chile, where I grew up.
At 9 years old, Star Wars became my most favorite saga and because of this saga I discovered my passion for filmmaking and storytelling. At 14, I began to listen rock and heavy metal music and then I began to figure out how much I love music.
Between 2008 and 2015 I studied the Film&TV career at University of Chile. Parallel to college, I also developed my passion for music, I took guitar lessons and learned to create songs in a self-taught way as an additional feature to my film career.
When I graduated from college, my first job was video editor. I worked on a lot of short video contents: BTL, internal marketing, sports, fashion, events, etc.. In 2018, I started my second job as videographer/editor in an engineering company called Procesos Ambientales.
In 2022, after 30 years living in Santiago de Chile, I decided to make a change in my life and I returned to Austin, my hometown, to find new opportunities as filmmaker.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely, it hasn’t been easy for me to become a filmmaker.
First I had to convince my parents to study the Film & TV career and during the college I also failed some courses. At some point I even was about to leave the career.
Then, when I graduated I began to figure out how difficult is actually being a filmmaker in Chile. As many young professionals, I started my career in a McJob and I didn’t have so much possibilities to join a film crew. In fact, after graduating from college, me and my classmates with who I wirked in the final student project took separate ways. So in 2017 I took the decision to leave Chile, but as you know, this kind of plans usually take a lot of planning and you also have to save enough money for it. And then the pandemic begun, so as you can see, I had to postpone my travel plans.
In 2022, I finally could move in Austin. Even here it hasn’t been easy but I don’t regret about my decision. I feel everything has gone very slow, and I also feel I have had to work harder to demonstrate my value as filmmaker.
But most important, I am still alive.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Since I graduated from the Film & TV career, I never have had the opportunity to work in a film production (industry or indie project), but instead I have worked in many things actually related with videography. During these eight years of my career, I have made a lot of short videos (1-3 minutes), so now I proudly can say “that’s my specialty”.
2021 was very challenging for me because these year I could rise my film career again (after an awful 2020) and most important I could find my own creative style. I told myself: from now, I want to make my video projects look like authentic theatrical movies.
Here in Austin I have taken some gigs as video shooter and sound recordist. I also am a good editor, however, it feels like working in an office, so right now I just want to prioritize those positions where I have more interaction with the other crew members on set. Every gig and personal project I have made this year also has been an opportunity to learn about my mistakes and find creative solutions to be more efficient in the next projects.
When I arrived to Austin I also began to attend those photo & modeling meetups that are very common in this city, but not to take photos, actually to shoot Behind The Scenes videos about the different photoshoots, edit videos and promote them on my website and social media. In fact, I think I already am known for being the only one filmmaker in those events and, yes! I never imagined how much I would enjoy doing fashion & modeling stuffs. I also have been attending the local filmmaker’s meetups. Another event I have been attending is ATX Short Film Showcase… it became my most favorite local film festival. Even if you don’t submit any project for the monthly competition it is a very good event to go to network with other filmmakers.
I think I am different to other filmmakers because I feel my career is going to a different direction than I expected. This 8 years of professional career have taught to me that “making a short film, submitting it to film festivals, and then just making feature films” is NOT the only way to make your film career grow. On the other hand, I think my passion for music has gave me a very particular point of view, in special when I have to take some creative decisions about the projects I work on. Also, we are living very crazy times, where social media and short video contents have became very popular (and important) in our society, so I also am trying to adapt myself to the new era, but obviously, I am very clear about I am not going to resign to who I am: a filmmaker.
What’s next?
Now I moved to Austin, my current plans are finding more stable job opportunities as filmmaker, to continue making film & video stuffs, and most important, to continue connecting with more creatives in this city.
I am not interested about travelling to another countries right now. I know Austin is not as perfect at all, but on the other hand there is something in this city that make me feel like home.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jimardones.wixsite.com/films
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/jimardonesfilms
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jimardonesfilms
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC5vj2oULk-LN-wz7oC9YnwA
- Other: https://tiktok.com/@jimardonesfilms
Image Credits
All the images provided for this interview belongs to J.I. Mardones (personal photo and the additional 8 ones, showing my work as filmmaker).
