Found my love for screenwriting in 2016 as I thought I only wanted to work as a Documentary Filmmaker until I wrote a my first short screenplays in 2016. In 2018 it was challenging writing my first feature screenplay, but a month after graduating Magna Cum Laude from the University of Colorado Denver in May 2020 I wrote "El Soldado De Marbach." I saw the metaphoric resonance of the character of The Soldier in Charles Burnett's "Killer of Sheep" (1977), as well as the cultural and historic resonance in Esperanza Quintero, portrayed by Rosaura Revueltas in Herbert Biebermann's "Salt of the Earth" (1954). Employing Alexandre Austruc's idea of La Caméra Stylo, I was able to utilize the plot of an classic like Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" (1956) because I saw the parallels between the year 1119 and 2019. Much like what Wes Craven did in his premiere feature film in 1972 with "The Last House on the Left" and borrowing Bergman's plot to "The Virgin Spring" (1960) and putting an American Twist on it, I am did the same.
Completing the first reel of the film before my final semester in college, I was implored to complete the film as my visions set in the Artist's mural became solidified in 2020 after riots erupted across America. "El Soldado de Marbach", once entitled "Killer of Men" as a homage to Charles Burnett, was submitted to the copyright office and then to screenplay competitions across America. Now that more of my vision capture on the mural came to pass after America's insurrection, the metaphoric resonance to this piece is dripping with the horrific realities of living in this nation. Upon returning to America from Afghanistan in late July 2014, I didn't know what to do when stopped by Sheriffs without probable cause because there was no reason for that stop as I "fit a description". I stuck my hands outside of the window as a way to show I was not a threat and unarmed. Police laughed at my behavior until let them know I was a combat infantry veteran and reminded them that Eric Garner was killed by police a few weeks earlier. My screenplay expresses the challenges as well as fears from being a Person of Color in America, where our perspective is finally being valued.
Work of mine has been featured at:
2017 San Francisco Veteran Film Festival (Simple Solution)
2018 Denver Silent Film Festival (Prey)
2018 Portland Comedy Film Festival (Colorado’s Comedian)
2019 Colorado International Cannabis & Hemp Film Festival (Green Revolution)
2020 Rivercity Underground Film Festival (Marbachumentary)
2021 Ethnografilm Festival (Marbachumentary)
2021 Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition Award Nominee (El Soldado De Marbach)
It is very nice to meet you all, and I hope to collaborate with you all some day.
Very Respectfully,
Arturo Javier Mireles
ArtMireles.com
Marbachumentary.com
GreenRevolutionFilm.com