My name is Maria Pimentel and I am a filmmaker from Guayaquil, Ecuador. I am 30 years old and I have a master's in Digital Media and Storytelling from Loyola University Chicago. Although I graduated with a B.A in International Relations, I had always been aware of the fact that I love watching movies. More specifically, I was fascinated with the behind the scenes that explained how the film was made. Because of that, I got an internship at Ecuavisa, an Ecuadorian TV channel, in a TV program called Vision 360 (which focuses on creating short documentaries ranging a variety of topics).
Stories are everywhere, and whenever I see something interesting, my first thought is: How can I tell this story? How can I show people what I'm seeing?
How can I shoot this?
I tell stories through different techniques which include sit-down interviews and days in the life. Though my favorite one is Cinema Veritas; which places the viewer in the center of the action; makes them see what the main character is seeing and understand their deepest feelings because it's almost as if the main character is directly talking to them.