Filipino-American filmmaker Anthony Diaz V breaks into the popular Sundance film festival with his film Break.
“Sundance is the most prestigious film festival in the world,” says Anthony, “if your goal is for your film to get global recognition. Also, most film buyers and distributors attend Sundance more than any other international film festival. So if you are accepted into Sundance, it’s the closest to you hitting a home run.”
The brainchild of Robert Redford, Sundance has become the hub of independents in the US and the rest of the world. Anthony says, “The first major influence was Robert Rodriguez. The movement he created in the indie movie scene was amazing at that time. He proved that it wasn’t impossible to make a movie if you had the desire and the creativity and quite frankly the ignorance of not knowing it can’t be done. My recent favorite is Ben Affleck (Argo and Gone Girl) who writes, directs, and acts in the project’s he produces.”
Movies have always played a major role in Anthony’s life from his childhood up until he went to the University of Las Vegas Film School (UNLV). He graduated with high honors with a Bachelors Degree in Film at age 20, making him the youngest graduate in the program’s history. His passion for film guided him as he embarked on his earliest short films that include Delusion showcased at the UNLV Film Festival and Forgotten Heroes, a film about the effects of the war in Afghanistan to a US military family. It earned rave reception and has played at various movie festivals and is under consideration to be showcased at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
With Break, Anthony feels that it is the perfect vehicle for his full-length feature debut. Mixing elements of crime, drama, love story and action, Anthony stars and directs from a script, which he also wrote under his own production company called Kaizen Studios. With his gym-honed physique, killer smile, arresting screen presence, and seductive alto, Anthony slips into the role of Johnny easily like he was born to play it. Johnny is a Japanese-American young man who gets involved with the underworld elements in Tokyo while dealing with the weight of being an outsider trying to fit into Japanese society. The film’s technical aspects are polished and the storytelling is gripping, managing to draw us into this alienated young man’s world and psyche.
Break has had a successful private screening in Tokyo with over 500 people in April.
