SEDT Student Produces Film Featured At Raindance Film Festival

Renowned Mexican playwright and actor, Carlos Olmos, dreamt of bringing his play El Eclipse to the big screen. 

But he didn’t see it come into fruition; Olmos passed away at the age of 55 in October 2003, due to respiratory failure.

However, his former student, Julian Robles, kept hope alive.

Robles teamed with Mexican telenovela star Khotan Fernandez—currently a student at the School of Entertainment and Design Technology at North Campus—to create a film based on Olmos’ play. 

“On my first read of it, I knew that it was a movie. I’ve always said that some movies have heart,” Fernandez said. “So I took the challenge of trying to get this movie done.” 

Iguana Like The Sun held its world premiere at the 30th annual Raindance Film Festival in London, England on Oct. 31. The movie’s title was inspired by a line from Olmos’ original play.

Fernandez, who co-produced the project and was an actor in the film, enrolled at Miami Dade College two years ago to learn about new technology being used to shoot and edit films. 

“It’s been a great learning curve for me,” said Fernandez, who has had lead roles in soap operas such as Al Otro Lado Del Muro, Perro Amor and Eternamente Tuya. “The process of producing a movie [and] at the same time being [a student at] MDC has enabled me to understand filmmaking from another perspective.” 

The 100-minute movie explores the themes of loss and tradition, describing the grieving process of a Mexican family dealing with the passing of their patriarch. It occurs during a single day as a mystifying solar eclipse hits an isolated small town during peak tourism season. 

During the film, each member of the family shares their perspective on how they are coping with the events. The movie forces viewers to think about the connections found in a traditional Latin-American family. 

“It’s not exactly a totally traditional narrative film because it has a lot of themes,” said Robles, who wrote and directed the film. 

Robles originally wrote the screenplay for the movie in 2012. However, production was delayed because they had to find additional funding. 

He further developed the storyline, recruited actors and raised funds to produce the film with Fernandez—a 48-year-old, who has been an actor for nearly three decades.  

They secured $1.3 million for the project. The majority of the funding came from a fiscal incentive—the Eficine grant—that encourages filmmakers to make movies in Mexico. 

Most of the money was used for necessities, such as room and board throughout the production, technology and salaries. 

The movie, set in Chiapas, Mexico was filmed in 2018. It hit an additional snag when post-production was delayed for more than a year due to the pandemic. 

“It cost us a lot in the post-production process,” Robles said. “In a world where everything was closed and where finance and life as a whole stopped.” 

Final touches for the movie were done at the start of 2022, mere months before its world premiere at Raindance where they were nominated for Best Cinematography. 

In addition to Raindance, Robles hopes to have the movie featured at film festivals across the United States and to release the movie on multiple platforms.  

“I want to see how audiences are going to respond—hopefully well,” Robles said. “I want the film to have its own life.”

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