LBB> What does creativity mean to you and when did you first realise that you wanted to be a director?
Santiago> I realised I wanted to be a director in my second year of my Film Studies when I did my first short film. I vividly remember when I captured the frames I wanted I said, “Hell, yeah! This is what I want to do!” It felt amazing, I felt I was on the right path. It is funny that this feeling came two years after I decided to study Film. Being a director is not for everyone. A phrase by Stanley Kubrick that characterises very well how it feels: “The hardest part of filming is getting out of the car”, because you know that everything depends on you once on set.
About creativity, I used to think that it was tightly related to a hard working process of ideas and thoughts. Now I feel this process has to be experienced in the body as well, there should be space for idleness to let ideas settle. It is a combination of hard work, taking breaks and changing the air when I travel for work to see things afresh.
LBB> Did your childhood hobbies or interests give any indication of the industry you would end up in? What were some of your interests growing up?
Santiago> The main influence came from my parents and my grandfather, who was an architect. I love the technical aspect of taking pictures. My dad is an engineer who loves the scientific part of things, like understanding how complex systems and structures work. Later on I realised engineers also like to innovate. I was hooked by that.. My mother, on the other hand, is an artist, who added the sensitive side to my life. She used to read a lot of books to me, she showed me and talked about the work of different artists. My heritage was a merge between mechanics and the arts. I strongly believe that cinema is a combination of both.
When I was a child a romantic aspect of movies that sticks in my mind is the sound of grandpa’s projector. For me, making movies has a lot to do with that sound.
LBB> You’ve worked around the world. How has your global experience impacted your vision, if at all?
Santiago> Being a director is about solving problems all the time. Things are never what you think, there are always last-minute challenges. Even when you receive a similar idea that you have done before, it will never be the same, as I work with different people in different environments. The key factor is adapting to the circumstances and understanding what the project needs. Creating a film is like life, it’s learning to adapt to what you’ve committed to do the best way you can.
LBB> For you, what is the most important working relationship for a director to have with another person in making an ad? And why?
Santiago> How difficult! If I have to pick one that would be the executive producer as I rely on them big time. They are the glue, they’re pretty close to the project. The client, the agency, the talents, what is needed and the resources we count on to do the project... Production is about a way of working, of seeing the business, a way of life. When there is a meaning behind a company culture, everything falls into place. This is lasting. What I like about Mama Hungara, the production house I work with, is that we are on the same page about pushing together with intention and a sense of closeness and trust.
