Director Juan Pablo Arias “A True Promise in the Horror Genre”

Juan Pablo Arias Munoz is a Chilean writer director based in Los Angeles that was recently called by the LA Times as “a true promise in the horror genre”.

This past month he presented his latest short film The History of Monsters at AFI Fest 2019. He came to the studio to talk to us about his current work and future projects, both in the US and Chile.

Heather Dawson: Thank you so much for joining us. That is quite an honor. I mean you haven’t been doing this for very long to be called out in the LA Times. How did that make you feel?

Juan Pablo: It was a surprise for sure. I mean I’ve been developing my work in the horror for a while, with shorts but I mean it’s great to be called that without even having a feature, you know.

Heather Dawson: So what has drawn you to the horror genre?

Juan Pablo: It’s one of the most special genres I think. It has some very interesting elements that I’m trying. Artistically to me it is the most challenging one right next to comedy. That’s like way too hard for me

Heather Dawson: Also you’re a writer as well, so you’re writing it, you’re directing it. So what’s in the future for you?

Juan Pablo: Yeah, so I have kind of my foot on writing TV and another writing features. I feel like now with all the streaming and there’s just so many avenues you know to showcase your work.

Heather Dawson: Do you think that’s helping you as a writer director versus you know 20 years ago streaming wasn’t an option, there were only certain channels.

Juan Pablo: Yeah definitely, I mean the the landscape of the industry is changing so much. I think it’s a great moment to be a writer director a creator of content because there’s so many new avenues and you can tell that the industry is very hungry for new content. My work is to create those stories. I suppose like 20 years ago when the technology wasn’t as good and you just had to rely on TV broadcasting or just the movies like the big theatre and studios, I think now equipment is cheaper you can just create your own movies and you can put them on YouTube and that’s that’s the least of the things you can do, and they’re not from there to like streaming platforms that are all looking for constant new shows like the amount of money with Netflix or Disney Plus or Apple TV plus are are putting out there to make stories is very exciting.

Heather Dawson: So if anyone wants more information on how to see your film where can they go.

Juan Pablo: So we’re just starting our festival right now. So festivals our first stop.

Heather Dawson: Well thank you so much for joining us and I wish you the best to luck. So we’ll have to have you back in a year from now, when you win your awards. thanks so much.