www.masbakersfield.com

Action!

Growing up in Guatemala, Dionicio Virvez saw very little hope around him.

The country was in political shambles with a civil war raging. Violence was a part of everyday life.

Public hangings and decapitations were part of the scene as Virvez made his way to school each day.

“I mean, you could see people being tortured, but unfortunately there was nothing you could do,” Virvez said.

Cut.

This was not the movie Virvez pictured for his life.

At 19, Virvez decided he would make his way to the United States for a better future.

“I remember my dad would tell me maybe it’s safer to get away from this kind of trouble,” Virvez said.

Still, a violent impression at an early age isn’t something easily forgotten.

“It was just so bad and the memories are still staying, you know?” Virvez said.
Splice.

Once in the United States, Virvez was inspired by martial arts films in the early ‘90s. He enrolled in a school for martial arts that was owned by a Korean film director.
The director asked Virvez to be an extra in some of his films.

Fade to black — and roll the opening credits to Virvez’s film career.

Now Virvez is is a writer/producer/director with the Multicultural Motion Picture Association. However, that’s not quite the exact title Virvez gives himself.

“Well, it’s not that I have a specific name for it, I pretty much do everything,” Virvez said.

Virvez is proud of his association with the company.

“Basically, the idea of this company is to  promote diversity in the cinematic arts,” he said.

According to Virvez, the Multicultural Motion Picture Association began with the Minority Motion Picture Awards show.

The show started in 1992, after a number of minority actors were nominated for Oscars but were denied the coveted cinematic trophies by the so-called “Hollywood favorites.”

“A lot of people, a lot of actors, producers, directors from different backgrounds, they got nominated by the Oscars at that time and not one of them took the Oscar, except the typical people that take the Oscars, you know, commercial people,” Virvez said.
As a minority, Virvez has faced many challenges in his cinematic career, including non-minorities cast as minority characters.

“I think to me it just wasn’t a good idea because you’re casting someone else that’s from another culture ... I guess it just doesn’t make sense,” Virvez said.

However, Virvez added, this type of “mis-casting” has actually changed for the better over the last couple of years, citing Mel Gibson’s “Apocolypto” as an example of a step in the right direction.

Virvez has shot a couple of short films in Bakersfield and considers himself a Lamont resident, even though he spends much of his time in the Southland for work.

He moved to Lamont in 2000, favoring the small town atmosphere after years in the fast-paced life of Los Angeles.

“It’s just wonderful that there’s a big set, a natural set, in close proximity to Los Angeles and a lot of these big companies don’t know because here they spend a lot of money for permits and all that kind of stuff, while in Bakersfield, people are so nice ... and they even do things for us for free,” Virvez said.

In addition to trying to promote Bakersfield as an ideal location for films, Virvez has entered a couple of pieces in the Kern County Film Festival.

“From what I’ve seen of his work, he tends to do these character pieces that are very short on dialogue and long on imagery,” said Dave Hook, assistant film commissioner.

Hook screens films for submission into the Kern County Film Festival.

“He enjoys letting the imagery carry the film. You know, film is a visual medium and
Dionicio takes full advantage of that,” Hook said.

Paul Madera is a fellow Lamont resident and an actor that has worked under Virvez’s direction in the past.

“I like the way he does his stuff because he’s a person that focuses on what he wants. He’s a very calm person and he likes to teach when he’s working on the film,” said Madera. “He cares about everybody that works on the film. You can call him anytime and he will sit and talk with you one on one.”

Madera said that ever since he worked with Virvez, the two have remained friends and touch base often.

“He will see a lead for me and tell me about it and that I should go for it, he’s really encouraging,” Madera said. “Working with Dionicio was definitely one of my highlights so far.”

Virvez recently finished a project for National Geographic television called “Ancient Astronauts.” The short film looked into the idea of the Incas having communication with extraterrestrials. Amazing architectural feats and huge drawings done by the Incas interested Virvez when working on the project.

“It prompted me to question, how did they do this, I mean how did this thing happen hundreds and hundreds of years ago?” Virvez said.

The next project he plans on doing will be called “Highway to Heaven.” It will chronicle the true story of a group of immigrants who died crossing the Texas border in a semi truck.

While there have been a few other short films about the story, Virvez said he plans to make his film as true-to-life as possible.

“I guess the way Hollywood works, you have to create half of it — fiction and a true story — so you know people can have Hollywood, that’s their way to do a film,” Virvez said.

While some of his work has included documentaries, Virvez said he doesn’t want to focus on that genre completely.

“I’m very much into selling the ideas that I wanted to create in cinema, which is like talking, creating stories. That’s pretty much what I wanted to do,” Virvez said.