Manny Marquez (director)
Manny Marquez fell in love with storytelling around the age of 7. A family friend gifted him a subscription to Ranger Rick Magazine, and Manny couldn’t wait for the newest issues to come in the mail. Inspired, he began to write his own Ranger Rick stories.
Soon after, his mother gave him a Fisher Price 110 camera. It wasn’t long before he and his cousins started production on a video series, an attempt to create their own Star Trek spin off.
An Eagle Scout, Manny received a scholarship for a film he made as part of his cinematography merit badge. He soon headed to California to pursue a degree in film writing and directing from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. His final project Rudolph Florence premiered on the PBS series Fine Cut and was one of 5 films chosen for the USC Crossroads Film Festival in 2003.
His writing and directing experience helped him become a part of Film Independent’s program, Project Involve. Manny’s mentor was Larry Karaszewski, screenwriter of Ed Wood, Man on the Man, The People vs Larry Flint, and many other screenplays. Manny was honored by the First Americans in the Arts association, and also received the Barbra Boyle Scholarship.
Manny was soon working in the camera department on reality shows as he spent his free time making music videos for his friends bands in the Echo Park and Silverlake area of LA.
The real defining moment of his career came when he decided he was going to make his own documentary, Psychopath. Manny’s uncle, a garbage man that had wanted to be a special effects make-up artist, was taking his life savings and building a haunted house theme park. This led him to meeting Barry Poltermann, who began helping on the post-production of the project.
His recent short film, Operation Allie, played festivals across America after premiering at the prestigious documentary festival, Big Sky.
Manny now lives in Hood River, Oregon with his wife Leigh, and three children. He likes to ride his bike around the Columbia River Gorge, walk the riverbanks with his dog Cima, and enjoys the many breweries around town. He’ll be drinking an IPA.
