Valley native heading to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in France with short film
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Filmed in the San Francisco Bay Area, a short film by Selma native Michael Morales is gaining attention and will be heading to the invitation-only, Cannes Short Film Corner in France.
"I'm really happy to be going out there because not a lot of opportunities are handed out like that or just given out. Where I came from, the Central Valley. You don't hear a lot of news like that," said film student Michael Morales.
The Cannes Film Festival brings together some of the most well-known and talented people in the film business.
Morales is a student at San Francisco State studying film.
He and a team of classmates made the short film "Guardia de mi Hermano" or my brother's keeper about two brothers who have chosen two paths in life.
The film won a school competition and the story plot caught the attention of organizers with the Canne Film Corner.
The film is mostly in Spanish, something this third generation Latino was passionate about.
"I'm not rooted as much as I want to, so creating that film for me was digging deeper into my roots and my culture. So it was kind of a big deal for it to be in Spanish to be this kind of theme. So it's like me giving back to my culture," said Morales.
The short film touches upon serious issues of drugs, violence, and gangs affect communities.
He hopes to create a conversation.
"I don't think there's enough time in the day where we talk to our kids or even adults that this kind of lifestyle does damage families and communities," said Morales.
Morales is now raising money and using his GoFundMe account to help him pay for the $3,000 trip to France.
The college student says his enthusiasm for filmmaking has grown.
"Just that you are able to tell a story and that people actually want to listen to it. So what I hope to do is create stories that ignite a fire within people that are wanting to create their own stories," said Morales.
A story that will now be shown to a bigger audience.
