Noah Michael Diaz Muñoz’s Beautiful Film THE CREATIONS
2 min read
Noah Michael Diaz Muñoz’ Beautiful short film The Creations had its world premiere last week at the Highland Park Independent Film Festival. Muñoz created a beautiful and poignant film about loss, and the healing power of creativity.
Mateo (James Hernandez), loses his beloved Tata (grandfather)- the only one who understood him. In his sorrow, he creates dolls out of Styrofoam – who soon become his best friends, helping him with his grief. In a stunning scene, perfectly executed, Mateo is relieved of his sorrow as he walks through a door of light into “Creation Land” where his dolls come to life and play with him. He shares these dolls with his sister Jasmine (Selene) to cheer her up.
At his new school, Mateo shares these dolls with his class in a show and tell, only to be chased and teased by the local bully. His dolls get destroyed. At that, Mateo loses all hope and doesn’t want to live anymore. In a tender scene, His mother (Marita del Torre), consoles him, reminding him of the circle of life, and his Tata’s advice to never ‘give up’. This hits home with Mateo: “ a love everlasting, a bond never truly broken even by death”.
Fast forward 13 years, “with every ending comes the birth of a new beginning”. And we see an older Mateo (director Noah Michael Diaz Muñoz), placing the resurrected dolls and some new ones, on an ofrenda, side by side with his Tata.
“The Creations” is an exceptional example of the power of film to tell stories. The writing, acting , directing, editing, cinematography, music and sound are all superb. What could be a cliché story about a young boy who misses his grandfather, instead becomes a human tale of loss, the joy found through creation, and then sharing that creation with others; a tale for the ages, that we certainly need to remember.
Noah Michael Diaz Muñoz is a new voice in the southern California film scene. Hailing from his native San Diego upbringing, Noah now resides in Los Angeles, where he is proud to represent his Latino heratige and the LGBTQ community. Noah takes his own experiences and brings them to life as a writer and director. From the moment he and his childhood neigbor conspired to film their own version of Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal, Noah knew he wanted to be part of the magic of making movies. Noah is a graduate of Woodbury University where he earned a BFA in filmmaking. Noah’s passion is to have his voice be heard as queer latino filmmaker and inspire others with his stories.
