El Mariachi
PRE-FESTIVAL SHOWCASE SCREENING
Synopsis:
A traveling mariachi is mistaken for a murderous criminal and must hide from a gang bent on killing him.
CARLOS GALLARDO (El Mariachi)
CARLOS GALLARDO
Bio:
Born in Acuña, Mexico, Gallardo’s first taste of fame came with the feature film ‘El Mariachi’, which he starred in and produced. The film was directed by his close friend Robert Rodriguez a critically acclaimed film. It was renowned for costing only $7,000 to produce. The film went on to win the 1993 Sundance Film Festival and was picked up by Columbia Pictures.
Following his success with ‘El Mariachi’, Carlos proceeded to work as an actor and co-producer on the “El Mariachi” film franchise, which would help launch the English language careers of Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas, in the sequel film ‘Desperado’. This movie opened the door to many new projects, including “Bravo” , “Bandido” and “Single Action”, in which Carlos filled the roles of producer, director, actor and screenwriter.
Carlos went on to be one of the Producers of the third film in the trilogy “Once Upon a Time in Mexico”, featuring Johnny Depp, Willem Defoe, Enrique Iglesias, Eva Mendez, Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas. The Mariachi trilogy franchise has grossed over $246 million worldwide.
In 2007, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized Carlos’ long time work as a Minority filmmaker and honored him with the award ‘Oscar Night America’, recognition from the academy as a Latino filmmaker.
Carlos also participated in a cameo role for Robert Rodriguez and Quinton Tarantino’s award winning action thriller ‘Planet Terror’ in 2007, and Quentin Tarantino’s “Grind House”. His other recent credits include the drama “Curandero” with Robert Rodriguez, released by Lions Gate, and ‘Dead Hooker in a Trunk’ with Sokos Sister and the short “Agent 88” by director Digger Mesch. He also co-starred in the Web series “Pay Day” by Damien Lichtenstein.
In 2012, ‘El Mariachi’ was given the prestigious honor of being named by the US Library of Congress as one of only 25 films to be preserved as part of the National Film Registry, the world’s largest archive of film, TV and sound recordings.
Carlos’s most recent work is with UK Action director Chee Keong Cheung. In 2009 they started to develop and work together on a film project “Redcon 1”. After many years of planning they produced the film and it is completed and released in the US May 2019. “Redcon 1” is receiving many awards on the indi festival circuit . Carlos’s most recent project is with partner director Robert Rodriguez in his new film “Red11” which has been accepted to the 2019 Cannes film festival. Carlos also is the Recipient of the Independent Hispanic Actor Award at the BI-National Independent Film Festival 2019.
Director, Writer: Robert Rodriguez https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001675/?ref_=tt_ov_dr