Macoproject Film Festival Interview
BIOGRAPHY
Ramos C. Smith is an independent filmmaker originally from Los Angeles, CA, now based out of New York City, NY. Before he went into filmmaking, he served in the United States Marine Corps Reserves in Field Artillery Fire Control, earning the National Defense Service Medal and the Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation. Ramos started his career in entertainment working at Warner Bros Studios as a Post-Production Data-Manager, most known for his work on Aquaman (2018), Justice League (2017) and then A24's Beau is Afraid (2023).
He is the founder of Uncut Films, an independent production company that has produced the short films One-Shot (2021), aLoNe (2021) and Dating is Hard (2022).
In 2021, his short film, One-Shot, won the "Special Mention" award at the Global Shorts Film Festival; it was also officially selected by the 2022 Shiny Sparkle Online Film Festival. Ramos received an "Honorable Mention" at the 2022 Hollywood New Directors Film Festival for "One-Shot".
In 2023, his fifth short film, "Dating is Hard" became a four-time semi-finalist at the Miami Short Film Festival, the Santa Cruz Independent Film Festival, Dallas Shorts Film Festival, and the Rio de Janeiro Worldwide Film Festival.
ABOUT ME
When I was young, my love of film was ignited by Star Wars, the originally trilogy sparked my imagination. But one of the first things I noticed was that, there weren't many people who looked like me in a galaxy far, far away. Sure, there was Lando Calrissian and then later, Mace Windu, but that was it. Being a mixed race child, half black and half filipino, I never saw any mixed person of color in the movies and stories I loved either. But this did not stifle my love of all things pop culture. Because of that, I went down a film rabbit hole, learning all about Francis Ford Coppola, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, etc. But it wasn't until I saw the movie "Clerks", directed by Kevin Smith, that was the first movie that made me go, "I want to do that! I want to make movies!" So I applied to film school.
One thing I feel is missing in the industry is we need more diverse storytellers. There are tons of young creators with stories just like mine and I hope we all get the chance to tell our stories up on the big screen. I love all things film and television. He cites Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu, Frederico Fellini, Gina Prince-Bythewood, David Lean, Wong Kar-wai, Joe Johnston, Brad Bird, and Agnes Varda as his film inspirations.My other interests include reading comic books, boxing/martial arts, surfing, skateboarding and collecting sneakers.