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How did the idea for Secuestro Express come about?
It started when I gave the Venezuela Subterranea CD to a DJ at a party in Los Angeles. When a Vagos y Maleantes song came on, the crowd went nuts. I knew that I had to do something with them. The next day an article about kidnappings in Latin America came out in the L.A. Weekly, and the message was clear.

From the moment I start writing a script until I finish editing a film I hold close to this philosophy: in life we kill time, but in film time kills us

Originally, the idea was to do a short film about a kidnapping. But after the first rehearsal with Vagos y Maleantes and Trece, I realized that I had too much talent on my hands to waste it on something that wasn’t going to be seen by the whole world. Secuestro Express grew out of that meeting. Vagos, Trece, and I came up with the concept.

The movie tells the story about a young upper class Caracas couple who get kidnapped by three thugs as they leave a party. Two are from the slums and one is middle class. From then on, it’s a trip through Caracas’ underworld. Violence, drugs, a potential social explosion: these themes mix with a torrent of exciting, anxious, and really fun situations. I wanted to make a movie that was faster than American movies, and that’s what we got.

What do you mean when you refer to movies being fast?
From the moment I start writing a script until I finish editing a film I hold close to this philosophy: in life we kill time, but in film time kills us.

I think that 90% of the movies that are made are too long and too slow. Today’s audience has an incredible mental quickness that allows it to capture ideas and feelings in fractions of a second. When you touch on social issues like we do in Secuestro Express, it’s quite possible that the audience will get distracted thinking about their personal experience. That’s why one has to keep the audience on their toes, excited, scared, laughing, going nonstop through all these emotions without giving them time to breathe. The Hollywood Reporter’s editor said that my movie was hypnotic because after an hour and a half he realized he too had been kidnapped during that time. That was precisely my goal.

I’ve seldom felt as welcomed as I do in Hollywood. They’re not only open, they’re desperate for people to tell new stories

How did you meet Robert Rodriguez and what’s your relationship with him like?
My contact has been Elizabeth Avellán, Robert’s producer-wife. She saw my documentary Los Barcos de la Esperanza (The Ships of Hope), and she called me to congratulate me. She told me that I had the potential to make movies in Hollywood. She invited me to Austin, Texas where their Troublemaker Studios is located, and she offered me help making shorts, documentaries, music videos. Robert has been a silent godfather, a great ally who has given us his crew and some of his facilities. Robert also gave me the most important advice I received in taking Secuestro Express from the first edit to the last.

What was it like to work on Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Spy Kids 2?
It was like watching a Robert Rodriguez movie that lasts ten weeks. I learned a great deal about his way of telling stories, and the way he handles the action. I also learned about how a set works, something I didn’t know anything about since that’s not something they teach you in film school.

How has Hollywood treated you? What does Hollywood think about making Latin American movies with Latin American directors?
I’ve seldom felt as welcomed as I do in Hollywood. They’re not only open, they’re desperate for people to tell new stories. It’s an industry whose primary resource is ideas. When someone shows up with new ideas, they immediately lay out the red carpet for you.

Your first movie makes up part of Hollywood’s embrace of Latin America cinema, which started with 2000s Amores Perros. Has Latin American cinema established a permanent place within Hollywood, or is this the fad that the Latin music explosion proved to be?
Without a doubt, a permanent space for Latin American cinema has been created, something that never existed before. But I don’t think it’s comparable to the music boom because the film boom is based on content, not rhythm. Content doesn’t go out of style as long as it maintains a [high] level. In Latin America, we’re going through middle age, and some stories are beckoning our society to a renaissance. It depends on us to maintain that level, and with it, the space we’ve won.

Ruben is one of the most complete human beings I’ve ever met. He taught us all a lot about being a complete artist and a human being

What’s needed to improve the quality of Venezuelan and Latin American films?
We need writers. And to have writers you need readers. In our countries, we are obligated to read the mess of our national literatures, making us repudiate literature. If we were to abandon the obsession with the local, and we invited people to read good authors, people would come to see that books can be more interesting than television. As long as we keep reading our bad literature simply because its ours, people will continue to watch TV because it’s more interesting.

The only thing most Venezuelan filmmakers need is something to say.

What can you do from the US for Venezuelan cinema? Do you intend to continue telling Latin American stories?
I would never distance myself much from Latin American themes. I might make a movie or two about something else, but Venezuela is my only home, the only society that needs me and the only one I’m willing to fight for. Secuestro Express has already changed the history of Venezuelan film because it was financed without any state money. We hope it will open doors that our cinema never dreamt of knocking on.

I hope my work will inspire a new generation of filmmakers to do away with the unlucky name that we inherited from the previous generation. Venezuela is at a point of no return. We either communicate, or die. And only the voices of artists can help Venezuelans understand that our problems aren’t political, but social.

What was it like to work with Mia Maestro and Ruben Blades?
In my opinion, Mia is the best actress of our generation. Her work in Secuestro Express has the potential to catapult her to the top of Hollywood’s list of serious actresses. She spent 6 months capturing the Caracas accent, and every syllable she uttered fit the bill. It was a tough role because it’s not easy to be kidnapped 10 hours a day for six weeks. She wasn’t acting, she was kidnapped. She couldn’t sleep at night because of the nightmares, and when she did sleep she kept the light on in her room. The intensity of Vagos y Maleantes and Trece entered through her pores and almost drove her crazy. Her efforts are compensated by her career’s best performance, the one that will divide her career into its “before” and “after.” She knows it and she’s really excited.

Ruben is one of the most complete human beings I’ve ever met. He’d arrive on the set, greeting the crew members one by one. He taught us all a lot about being a complete artist and a human being. His role is small, but he made it strong. He also made the movie’s song with ‘Vagos y Maleantes’ and ‘Trece’, which is going to be a major hit that all Latin America will soon be dancing to.

What other projects are you working on?
I’ve got various projects in development, but I can’t comment on them. I want to show that content and entertainment are not opposites. Film for a large audience can also transcend. I believe in the audience. And whoever underestimates the audience does it out of their incapacity to communicate. The audience listens if you talk fast, in their language, and with quality