Joel Delgado Hitos, already has his own production company. This emerged, in 2018, as a YouTube channel where you have a space to share his first short film, The book; and from there, the name of the production company, The Books Films. In addition to directing, he is in charge of editing and creating the soundtracks. Although for the latter, he has on occasion enlisted the help of the composer, Gabriel León, nominated for Best Soundtrack at the Weekend Horror Awards.
Currently, he has directed and premiered six short films and several of them have been presented at film festivals, such asThe book, nominated for Best Screenplay and Best Short Film 16-21 of the Short Film Contest: Don't cut it!. “This experience was very beautiful and comforting”, declares Joel, “it was a short film with zero budget and I didn't expect it”. From that moment on, his presence at festivals increased and in 2019, Carla, was the Jury Prize at the V Meeting of Young Creators and Semifinalists, an international festival. Also, God in AbsentiaIt was an official selection at four festivals, two of them Venezuelan.
To create a short film in a small student production company, you have to bear in mind that external financing will always be necessary, and to obtain it, Joel normally works with through crowdfundingand with crowdsourcing. His short films usually cost between €300 and €5.000, which is why it is important to “have a humble and committed team”, since much of the material used has to be rented or bought. You also have to take into account the catering, the characterizations, the production costs... In his latest projects he has had the support of the university, offering him a large part of the material.
Right now he is working on his latest short, Damn, the prequel to God in Absentia, which will be released this coming August on the Playcortos.es platform, and will shortly announce the location chosen for the first face-to-face viewing. “The story develops a whole arc of transformation of the protagonist and where the actors give us a great performance that will not leave anyone indifferent”, declares Joel. Arkham Contents, an audiovisual production company, has co-produced them, providing them with a lot of quality material, thus helping to achieve a more professional result.
The young short film director wants to continue working on it and encourages anyone who has a dream to carry it out. At the end of the interview, Joel stated, “Just gather whatever resources you have around you, get a few friends together and pull it off. There is nothing wrong with the result being humble. The important thing is to break the ice, make mistakes and learn. And if anyone is interested in us working together, I'd be more than happy."
For those interested, you can visit their Instagram accounts, through their personal account (@joeldhitos), or the producer's account (@thebookfilmsprod). Also via email .