by FilmInk Staff
At the age of fourteen, Gabriel Ortiz was inspired by people who made a difference – great achievers, like Michael Jordan, who made people believe that he could fly, or Steve Irwin, with his wildly enthusiastic personality who made people dream big.
He asked myself, what does he want to do?
And it clicked –
He wants to inspire people. To bring them comfort, and confidence. To let them know that if he could do it, then anyone can.
One day, after walking home from afterschool, he sat down by the computer, and typed.
Within a few months, he had written the official screenplay for his film, Targeted.
At the time, he was a skinny fourteen year-old kid. Actors would come onto set expecting a full grown man as their director, and would be shocked to see this… kid!
However, they soon realised something – this boy doesn’t need a BlackMagic camera or a modern boom mic to create a great film. All this boy had was a script in one hand, a smartphone in the other (iPhone 11), and a dream. A dream that soon turned into a goal.
This boy gathered everything he had – family, friends, mutual friends, everything and made something great out of it.
That was over five years ago. Targeted is now a 70-minute long film, with rolling credits for just about two minutes – that’s how many actors were involved.
After 4 years of editing, Targeted is now finally ready.
And now, on Thursday, 8 October, at 5:45pm, Targeted will be hosted at The Ritz Cinemas, located in Randwick, Sydney.
And the best part? This boy gets to view his audience at his World Premiere, knowing that, after over half a decade, he finally did achieve his goal: he did it. And just as he knew then, he embraces it now; anyone can do it.
Synopsis for the film: Following the kidnapping of his younger sister, Mark and his friends set out to uncover the truth behind her disappearance. As they get closer to discovering what happened that fateful night, the kidnappers begin to face problems of their own.
The story is a thriller/coming-of-age, which is a relatively underexplored genre.
Get your tix to the premiere, here.
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