Santiago Martinez Vertíz

While the Pelagic Life team is chasing the elusive sardine baitball in the open ocean near Baja California, they stumble upon a crude shark fishing operation that sparks a seismic shift in the group’s thinking. Departing from their original concept of documenting awesome sea-life phenomenon, they transform their mission to creating awareness of Mexico’s sea-life while creating sustainable livelihoods for the shark fishermen in order to preserve a delicate and critical ecosystem.

Tropical Vulture is a cross-generational project which highlights the artistic influences between George Kuchar, a Bay Area legend of independent filmmaking, and Mexican artist Miguel Calderón. Tropical Vulture is an experimental narrative video, co-directed by both artists, and blends Hollywood glamour and drama with an all-too-real life approach, which creates and inspires a counterpoint of unattainable desire against unbearable actuality. The video, shot on location in Acapulco, utilizes a “lo-fi” aesthetic and playful use of nonprofessional actors. Tropical Vulture is entrenched in corruption, tourism, and post-colonialism and it uses a loose narrative to create a portrait of a relationship between student and teacher.