Charlie Gandez and “The OtherSide”
Poster for “The OtherSide,” featuring Chris Parcher (pictured). Photo by Mitchell Keeran
By: Mitchell Keeran
Carlos Ruiz, a young communications professor and alum at Waldorf, lives a busy life currently as a husband, college professor and filmmaker.
Ruiz just recently finished his last short film, The OtherSide, under his new pseudonym, Charlie Gandez. “It took me a little while to get back into film-making,” says Ruiz, “It takes every ounce of creativity you have.”
About the new name, Ruiz decided to dive into his creativity by reinventing an individual identity. He’s known among his family and close ones as Charlie, and he came up with Gandez by combining two of his relatives’ surnames. “I really dug deep into The OtherSide, so I decided it was perfectly fitting to introduce the name with this film,” said Gandez.
The OtherSide is about how a man’s view on his own life changes after a life altering event involving his mother. The movie joins other works by Ruiz, including Rise of the Sea Urchins and It’s On Me. It stars Chris Parcher in the leading role, as well as Julie Keely playing his mother.
Keely enjoyed working on The OtherSide with Ruiz. “It was a really fun film with a good script,” said Keely. “Carlos is a very good director, he was very easy to work with and the set was a day of fun!” This is Keely’s second film with Ruiz, as she was also featured in the feature length film, Rise of the Sea Urchins. “He’s grown quite a bit since Rise of the Sea Urchins,” said Keely. “He’s very confident, and he did a great job with writing the whole script–… a brilliant job overall.”
The OtherSide has already been shown to the communications professors and other faculty at Waldorf. Gandez has recently submitted The OtherSide to numerous film festivals across the nation, and he is awaiting approval for showings. The festivals include the Sioux City International Film Festival, the Boulder International Film Festival and the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival.
Gandez is also currently working on four separate films, including both a comedic drama called Split. In the comedy Gandez is introducing an innovative framing technique, as well as another horror short about sleep paralysis.
Ruiz is offering private showings to Waldorf students and other community members from Forest City before he takes The OtherSide to the public eye. For those interested, contact Ruiz.