Los Pérez

How did you get into directing?
We met at film school and have been working together ever since. We started making shorts and then co-directing music videos together. From there, the idea of becoming a creative duo on other audiovisual projects was born, such as advertising, branded content, and film. Because we’re two directors, we like to give our point of view as if we were one unified, cohesive brand during every step of the creative process — including script development, production, costume design, music composition, and finally, filming. We’re a multitasking couple, and we love to leave our mark on every project.

What is your most recent project?
This week, we’re finishing a fashion and beauty project with the SCBF agency in Barcelona. We’ve been filming in a studio and built several sets with very interesting design and architecture, inspired by Mondrian. Last month, we shot a chocolate commercial for the German market with M&CSaatchi, where throughout all shots, the objects had the same shape and position, so the montage here was fundamental. Now we are preparing choreography for the Sonar Music Festival in Barcelona.

What is the best part of being a director?
The best thing part of being a director begins before we even start shooting: in our imagination. When you create a sequence in your head, it’s always a challenge to make the real-life product better than what you imagined. And when you achieve that, it’s very gratifying.

What is the worst part of being a director?
The worst is when you present a treatment or a pitch that you’ve been working on so hard and in the end the project doesn’t work out because of circumstances beyond your control. It feels so bittersweet when we don’t get to do the project, because it feels like we already shot it in our hearts. But part of our work is turning that frustration into positive energy to create even more new things.

What is your current career focus: commercials & branded content, TV, movies? Do you plan to specialize in a particular genre—comedy, drama, visual effects, etc.?
We started co-directing by making music videos. This helped us foster our creativity and personal touch, which we try to give to all our audiovisual work, including commercials. We like to make bold characters—adventurous but always elegant. The elegance is in the way we shoot them; in the way they dress and their colors.

We like all genres, although we always try to address them from an artistic point of view.

We really enjoy working in advertising and music videos where we can develop our creativity more, Film is another goal; we currently have a completed script for a film and we’re finishing the second.

Have you a mentor and if so, who is that person (or persons) and what has been the lesson learned from that mentoring which resonates most with you?
Our biggest mentor has been film and music videos. Through them, we’ve been shaping our own personalities, although the true lessons are learned when shooting, sharing your ideas with your team, and making mistakes again and again until you finally get what you want.

Who is your favorite director and why?
t’s hard to decide who’s our favorite director. We admire classic ones like Truffaut and Chaplin, and contemporaries like Lynch and Scorsese. But perhaps the style we identify with the most is that of the Cohen Brothers. Plus, they are a creative team, too. They work so hard with their script and characters, never neglecting the aesthetics around them.

What is your favorite movie? Your favorite commercial or branded content?
There are movies that for some reason have left their mark on us like The 400 Blows by Truffaut for Tania, or Blade Runner by Ridley Scott for Adrian.

But there are films that we both admire and resonate with our style, and that we would’ve loved to co-direct like The Big Lebowski or Boogie Nights.

In terms of commercials, we’re big fans of Traktor and how they present their humor and the characters in their work. From those they did for Fox Sports, to their later ones like Pet by Schweppes.

Tell use about your background (i.e. Where did you grow up? Past jobs?)
We grew up influenced by different disciplines. Adrian [Pérez], the son of a self-taught painter from a small town in Spain, is not only a filmmaker, but also a composer and singer. His band, CatPeople, has toured several countries in Europe and performed at renowned festivals sharing the stage with artists like Arcade Fire, Morrisey, and Portishead, Tania [Verduzco] grew up with different analog cameras that her parents gave her, from a super 8mm to a 120mm. Afterwards, she worked as an assistant director in Mexico until she made the leap to director. Her short film Pin-Up has received awards in important film festivals (Special Mention at Sitges, Nominee for Best Action Short at Goya Awards, selected by Michael Moore for the Traverse City Film Festival, and Clermont Ferrand). In her spare time, she takes contemporary dance classes that serve as a source of inspiration when it comes to designing her own chorography in their music videos.

Contact

bb@cortezbrothers.com
http://www.cortezbrothers.com