The Habit of Seeing: Film and the Way of Conversion
by Blair Gordy Piras
Manny, tell us about yourself. Who are you, how did you get into filmmaking, and what have been some major turning points in your career?
My name is Manny Marquez. I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As a child, I fell in love with storytelling and loved to read. Of course, being Catholic, there were so many great stories we’d hear of the saints and the life of Christ in the Gospel. Those made a huge impact on me. Also, I am part Native American, a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. I can remember my paternal grandmother, where we get our Native heritage, was very much a storyteller and was always spinning yarns for us grandchildren…mostly ghost stories.
When I was 7 years old, my parents gave me a Fisher Price 110 still photo camera for my birthday, and everything changed. No longer were my ideas confined to my limited knowledge of language—I could take pictures! Of course, my photos were horrible, but a spark for image making was born in me.
Now, my Uncle had always had an interest in special effects make-up. He had made make-ups from the Planet of the Apes, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Star Trek, American Werewolf in London, and many more. When I was small, he’d often make himself up and scare me and my cousins. Being the creative kid I was, I immediately connected to this art form and asked him to teach me. Seemed like a way to be closer, but at home. So, I was actually apprenticing to be a make-up artist with him. As I learned more and more about sculpting and painting, all necessary skills in the make-up trade, I found I was doing make-ups for my own short films. I had a real love of Star Trek: The Next Generation and was making up all my friends from school to act in my own homemade episodes. As we did more and more of these Star Trek films, I realized that I was no longer writing in the need for make-ups. I had fallen in love with writing and directing, back to my original love of being the storyteller.
As I reached college age, I had decided that I didn’t want to have the traditional university experience. Having been Catholic and creative in the Bible Belt, I felt I needed to go beyond what was on offer locally. I had contemplated the priesthood and also the military, but my heart was pulling me toward filmmaking. All I wanted was to tell stories and be behind the camera. I applied to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. I was accepted using a film I made for my cinematography merit badge as my portfolio sample.
It was there that the world was opened up to me. I learned directing, cinematography, writing, and a myriad of other skills. I studied art history as well as media at all avenues. My science classes were all in relation to the arts too, raising and studying questions like what it is that the eye really sees. There was no fat to trim, just 100% art and film. I was surrounded by creativity. It was also the place that I started to lose my faith. There is a danger in the arts; if you allow it to do so, your creative practice can become your church. The world will tell you that your craft is the most important thing, and that your upbringing is holding you back. I don’t blame anyone at the school for that. I think my own ego took hold of my heart, and pushed my soul aside. Regardless, I excelled at film school and hit the industry with both feet on the ground.
I thought I was going to be a screenwriter, because I had a great mentorship with a very well known writer. I used to spend five hours per day writing on my own screenplays, but nothing I wrote ever broke out. I was still hoping to direct my own films, too, but started being known as the guy that all my friends’ bands could come to for a music video. I probably directed over 50 music videos in the Echo Park/Silver Lake area of Los Angeles in the early 2000’s, and I loved it. Even though I wasn’t doing exactly what I wanted, I was concepting and executing ideas, and on a budget. You learn a lot out of necessity, and I’ve been able to take that to my work these days.
Before long, I had to start working to survive the post-college high, and reality set in. I became a camera assistant on reality shows. I don’t want to sound ungrateful, because I was happy to have the work, but reality tv is the farthest thing from filmmaking, the thing I actually loved. It really was wearing. It was around that time that I went back to Oklahoma and visited that same uncle that taught me special effects make-up. Even though he was a garbage man by trade, he owned the business, and he still had a passion for special effects make-up. He took me out to a property he had just bought. 40 acres out in the woods, and he was going to transform this into his own haunted house theme park called Psycho Path.
My mind was reeling. I returned to Los Angeles and back to my camera assistant job, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the Psycho Path. My uncle had been facing push back from local officials, threats from neighbors to the park, and lack of support from his family. Yet, he was determined to live his dreams come Hell or high water (it was in a flood plain!). I gave my notice on the reality tv show, and I decided I was going to make a feature documentary about my uncle. In order for me to get out of the rut of not making a movie in Hollywood, I’d have to leave Hollywood to make it happen on my own.
During that time, I met a man named Barry Poltermann. He had been a commercial director himself, but was most known as the editor of the Sundance award winning documentary American Movie. Barry became my guide as I navigated making my first feature. He also was starting a company and recruiting documentary filmmakers to work for him. The idea was that we’d take our skill sets to commercial clients. For example, one project I got assigned to was a multiple part documentary series for Trek Bicycles at the 2009 Tour de France.
That series I shot at the Tour de France ended up being a massive turning point in my career. Over the course of 22 days, we made 20 short documentaries. When we came back to the States, those films became my main portfolio. That pretty much cemented my trajectory as a documentarian who would also work in the commercial realm.
Around that period, I had been away from the Catholic faith for about 10 years. My girlfriend (now my beautiful wife!) was talking about marriage, and I knew there were some big life changes I’d have to face. I decided that I had to have a conversation with Jesus. I needed to know if he was the son of God, or if I was free to pursue my life without him. So, I went to one of my favorite bars and ordered a pint. I said to Him, “Jesus, you and I are going to have a drink. I don’t know if I truly believe you’re the son of God, but if you are, I need you to tell me. I can’t walk away from you if you are the Truth.” I am not saying I heard voices or had a vision, but a calm came over me. In my mind, I felt he revealed that He was who He claimed to be, and I needed to follow Him. From that point on, I knew I was Catholic, and I came back into the Church with a converted heart. I wanted to embrace the Faith with everything I could and that included the work I was doing in film.
My feature film Psychopath about my uncle was finished in 2014. Despite spending so many years of my life on it, it didn’t land the way I had hoped. In fact, we never got distribution for it. I immediately started looking for my next story because I knew filmmaking was my vocation. My brother Anthony had served in the Marine Corps as a bomb dog handler. His dog, Allie, whom he deployed to Afghanistan with was facing the end of her military career, and was up for adoption. Anthony set out to adopt her and bring her home to Oklahoma. Operation Allie was the film that came out of that. This ended up being a short film, but an absolute turning point in my career. It was a hit at the documentary film festivals, and truly became a spotlight piece on my portfolio of the kind of storytelling I wanted to do.
In 2018, after a decade making my living off of documentary style marketing videos, I began to feel lost. That same feeling that had hit me while working in reality television was nagging at me. God gave me the ability and the drive to be a storyteller, but I was using that talent on financial films and pharmaceutical videos. Again, I am grateful for that work, but I needed to point some energy in a new direction. That is when I decided to contact Word on Fire.
I had accidentally discovered Bishop Barron on Youtube, because he had done a video on Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. There’s a priest on the internet that likes the movies I like? I couldn’t believe it! Then I saw he was a Bob Dylan fan, and a Coen Brothers fan, and he still was true to the Catholic faith. Bishop Barron’s engagement of the culture, rather than simply deriding that culture, came to me as a breath of fresh air.
Before I knew it, I was working on the Pivotal Players series. I had the great honor of being a part of the last four episodes that were made. Those featured Venerable Fulton Sheen, Flannery O’Connor, St. Ignatius of Loyola and Bartolomé de las Casas.
After that work, I was asked to travel to the Synod on Youth and documented Bishop Barron’s time there. Then, I directed a documentary for the release of the Word on Fire Bible: Volume II featuring designer and artist Michael Steven’s creation of a centerpiece painting for the Bible called The Pentecost (After Maíno). All of this led right up to my being asked to direct the series Wonder: The Harmony of Faith & Science.
What I’ve loved most about working with Word on Fire is that their mission reflects my beliefs while satisfying my creative drive to make art in the deepest sense of the word. You know, we all say we have a vocation in our art, but when you use it for the kind of work they are doing, the vocation fully comes alive.
As one of my favorite filmmakers, Andrei Tarkovsky, once said: “Art acts above all on the soul, shaping its spiritual structure.” I believe that is indeed the truth, and it also works in reverse. What we put forth in the spiritual life will shape the art we create. That is why it is imperative we fill our lives with the transcendentals of goodness, truth and beauty. If we do so, they will point our cameras, or paint brushes, and our hearts to Christ.
Your series Wonder: The Harmony of Faith and Science for Word on Fire Catholic Ministries combines the theological writings of Louisiana native Dr. Chris Baglow, astoundingly beautiful scenes of nature, replicas from a Chartres Cathedral stained glass window painted by yours truly, as well as depictions from the life of Christ and history of salvation. How would you summarize this project?
I would say that this is the most important project I have ever been commissioned to direct. When I first read the scripts that Dr. Baglow had written, I could not start to fathom how we could commit these to the screen and do his work justice. He’s obviously so talented, and brings God to a segment of academic study that is often opposed to matters of faith. Having said that, Word on Fire and Bishop Barron have always pushed the compatibility of faith & science. This gave me the confidence to really dig in and let the Holy Spirit set the pace. After receiving the scripts, I spent an entire month just reading and rereading them. It was then that I started to post visual ideas on a cork board. At the end of the month, I had three full boards of shots and concepts that would need to be captured in order to make these work.
How would I summarize what I set out to do? I wanted to take the five topics Dr. Baglow had written on and give them the most compelling and cinematic treatment possible. I wanted to make each of them their own films, with a beginning, middle, and end. Yet I wanted it to feel like one bigger film if you watched them together. Lastly, I sought to create something that could change the hearts of my secular friends. Those that are staunch believers in science (or scientism), but have never considered Christ because they didn’t see the connections. At the same, there are some super challenging concepts in the films for Catholics, and it was time that these good folks took another look at Aquinas, Augustine, and other great Catholic thinkers that wrote on these topics.
Who were your key influences for the film? In what parts do you think your vision came through most?
The two filmmakers that I referenced the most were Terrence Malick and Andrei Tarkovsky. Their work is very much a part of my film language, and I can’t deny how much I have gleaned from them. Malick’s The Tree of Life and Voyage of Time are pinnacle influences on me. Then, Tarkovksy’s Mirror, Solaris, and Andrei Rublev have touched me and I can never shake them. Another film I find to just be so incredible and an influence on how I shoot is The Great Beauty by Paolo Sorrentino. The Crown is also a TV show that I really revere in terms of production values, cinematography, and music.
Speaking of music, I was listening to a lot of Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt, Martin Phipps, and Alexandre Desplat while working on the concepts. Where did my vision come through the most? I have to say that my cinematographer Rod Hassler captured perfectly what was in my head. His work is astounding, and serves the mission beautifully. Lastly, Sean Beeson’s score is more than I could have dreamed. Whenever he’s on the music, the films grow outward in positive and stunning ways.
You were faced with a challenge for the fifth episode, “A Window into Salvation.” What was your solution to this challenge? We worked together on this episode; can you tell us more about that?
The fifth episode in the series revolves entirely around the sacred mathematics behind the creation of the North Rose Window at Chartres Cathedral and the portrayal of the Davidic lineage of Christ in the window. Just saying it, you can see that it was going to be a complicated episode. We first started with the obvious question: Do we just go to Chartres Cathedral and film the window? The answer was no to that for several reasons. First, the trip and resources needed to shoot there would be larger than our entire budget for the series. Secondly, even if we filmed the window, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and we’d have limited access. Plus, creatively, we can’t just film a window. We have to make the complicated concepts the creators of the window had in mind come to life.
My cinematographer, Rod Hassler, and I have worked together now for almost twenty years. We used to do a lot of low budget music videos when we started out. Our key to success back then was to take the resources we had, and make them look bigger. So, we would resurrect a lot of old Hollywood tricks and techniques. One of those we liked was rear projection. You know in the old movies where it looks like someone is driving in a car, but they are really on a stage with a projected image behind them—that’s rear projection.
We started floating that idea for episode five of Wonder. Yet, again, it can’t just be a projection of the window. This needed to go a step further, because the window isn’t as interesting or visually pleasing to the viewer as a moving backdrop. That is when I had the idea that this space we’d create would represent the interior thoughts of an artist as she painted the panels of the North Rose Window. It would be a space for her to work through the mathematics and the story of David’s family line, but we’d see it physically.
This episode is more conceptual; how did you achieve the space of an artist’s mind?
As you know, I was looking for an artist that would be willing to paint the twelve Davidic Kings we needed for the rear projections, and we needed them on a quick turn around. I initially asked Michael Stevens if he’d create them, because I had worked with him on the Word on Fire Bible project, and that featured his painting. He kindly declined, but suggested we use a different artist, and your name came up immediately. When I Googled Blair Barlow, the work that I saw was familiar to me because my wife had shown me your paintings prior. We both were very moved by your aesthetic, and how it felt so real compared to some other sacred art we’d seen.
The reason I needed someone to paint these panels in the first place was because it didn’t seem that high resolution photographs of the window’s details existed. If I was going to be able to project them, we needed them to be of the highest quality. We also needed someone to be the talent on screen, to play the painter in the film. I saw your picture on your website and I thought “Blair should just be the artist, too!” Somehow, I convinced you to paint them, to portray yourself, and you even had your photographer husband shoot the panels and make high resolution images we could project. To be very honest, Blair, you saved us on episode five.
Photo courtesy of Manny Marquez
Can you tell us about working with Jonathan Roumie?
Working with Jonathan is absolutely everything you could imagine it would be. He’s extremely professional and dedicated to the material you give him. He’s truly a prayerful and earnest man of faith. I remember being in the sound booth as we started our voice over session, and I could hear him praying prior to beginning the work. That touched me, and I knew our day was going to go well. Jonathan is an essential ingredient to these films, and I couldn’t be more grateful that he came on board. Also, he believes in the mission of evangelization, and that put us all on the same page. It isn’t easy to work in the film industry and be openly Catholic. Jonathan sets the standard for all of us to follow. God bless that man.
Any other memorable moments or challenges from the making of the series?
I spent over nine months working on these films, so there were a lot of highs and lows along the way. I will say, some of the material in the scripts was simply not going to be able to be filmed traditionally. For example, how do you properly show the Omega Minus Particle? That is where my visual effects artist Carl Graham came into the picture. He tackled all the sections that were animated, and the opening credits. It is just superb work. I think what he did really assisted in fully realizing the vision for the project. Another challenge leads us back to Dr. Baglow’s original scripts. They were so dense and full of detailed information, which is great for a lecture, but they didn’t quite translate for the purpose of the voice over session. So, Matthew Becklow, the publishing director of Word on Fire, worked with Dr. Baglow to edit the scripts into something Jonathan could more easily say on microphone. Matthew did an amazing job, and you wouldn’t know what’s missing.
What is your dream project as a filmmaker?
I am not sure if you’re familiar with Blessed Stanley Rother, but he is a priest from my home state of Oklahoma that was martyred in 1981 serving as a missionary in Guatemala. His life has inspired me, as a lived example of what a man and a Catholic should be. My dream project would be to make a feature narrative film about his life, starting with his life on the farm as a boy and ending with his death. Fr. Rother will someday be declared a saint, and his story is worth telling.
What are some of your other projects that you’d like to point our readers to?
I’m currently working on my second full feature documentary entitled Make Peace or Die. I mentioned before that my brother was a Marine Corps dog handler in Afghanistan. This feature film follows him as he deals with his own PTSD and healing after war by engaging with and supporting the Gold Star Families of the 17 men his unit lost in Afghanistan. This film is so dear to me, and I can’t wait to share it with the world. You can read more about it on our website.
How does being a father impact your work? Do your kids share your love of film?
I don’t know if you noticed, but my family makes quite a few appearances in the Wonder films. My newborn son even played Jesus in episode five! Being a father has changed many things for me. First off, I try not to travel as much as I used to. Sometimes, that is unavoidable, but the time with these kids goes so fast. They do love films, but not the same ones that I do. I have instilled in them a respect for art, all kinds of art, but they know cinema is the one dad loves the most. So, I teach them about storytelling and I take my oldest boys out to shoot photographs with me. They do love the fact that I have let them see scenes from Apocalypse Now, but they aren’t allowed to watch the entire movie!
What films inspired you to want to become a filmmaker?
Funny enough, the piece of media that affected me the most growing up was Star Trek: The Next Generation. I think because it came on weekly, and there was a new story and adventure to see that would transport me (pun intended) out of my rural Oklahoma life. I just loved the fanciful whimsy and moral tales of that show. The one movie that made a massive influence on me growing up was Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders. It was filmed in Tulsa when I was a young child, and when I watched the film, I was familiar with all the locations. To this day, that movie is still in my heart.
Christian films, music, and art can have a negative reputation. Which films would you recommend that you think reveal the truths of the Catholic faith in a beautiful way?
Oh man, this is such a tough one! I want to refrain from personally critiquing any Christian themed projects, and just say that there are different kinds of work for different tastes. Let’s all approach this work with generosity and charity. In my humble opinion, I think we have to go back to the transcendentals. Are you making something that furthers the mission of goodness, truth, or beauty? All artists need to ask themselves that when they sit down to create. Are you making something that could appeal to a larger audience, but still never stray from speaking those truths? Don’t we want everyone at the table to see this, maybe even question it if it sparks something in them? That certainly was my goal with the direction I took Wonder in. Please, come see what we have to say….you may just find a truth you didn’t know you agreed with.
If I had to suggest a film that is maybe the most Christian themed film I have ever seen, I would suggest Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line. Never have I seen such a Christ themed film, without calling him Christ.
I love Roberto Rossellini’s The Flowers of St. Francis for its whimsy and portrayal of the holy fool.
Then there’s Eric Rohmer’s My Night at Maud’s, proceed with caution.
Roland Joffé’s The Mission made a huge impact on me when I first saw it as a child, and the Eucharist is at the forefront of that picture.
Okay, one more Malick film. Please watch A Hidden Life. Truly a masterpiece about a soon to be saint.
What are your favorite overall five films?
Okay, this is so hard to ask of a filmmaker, but here I go.
The Tree of Life
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
The Big Lebowski
Mirror
American Movie
Apocalypse Now
Was that six….Ha!
[This article is the unabridged conversation between Blair Gordy Piras and Manny Marquez, and an abridged version of this interview originally appeared in the Winter 2023 issue of Joie de Vivre, which you can purchase by clicking the “Subscribe” tab above.]
Manny Marquez is a husband, father and filmmaker living in Tulsa, OK. Although he also works on secular projects, his favorite films to direct are those that highlight aspects of his Catholic faith. Manny recently completed a five-part series for Word on Fire Catholic Ministries about the intersection of faith & science. He has also completed his second feature documentary titled Make Peace or Die, and he has traveled to World Youth Day and the Synod with Bishop Barron making more films for him. Likewise, he has directed three films promoting the National Eucharistic Revival. You can learn more about his work by visiting his website: www.remudapictures.com.
Blair Gordy Piras of Blair Barlow Art is a sacred artist and an Assistant Editor of Joie de Vivre.
