America Unfiltered

Wanting to understand a fractured country, two immigrant filmmakers embark on a cross-country listening and recording tour, revealing an unfiltered, unflinching portrait of  America. 

  • Horacio Marquinez
    Director
  • Kirill Myltsev
    Director
  • Marc A. Brackett
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 34 minutes 35 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 22, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    150,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Horacio Marquinez, Kirill Myltsev

Horacio Marquínez, Co-Director, Photographer

Horacio is an award-winning director and cinematographer who has made over 40 feature films, numerous commercials and documentaries, and critically acclaimed photographs. Born and raised in Panama, he made his way to NYC graduating from Columbia University Film School. Horacio has worked on independent films, commercials, and major motion pictures with renowned directors, producers, and actors, including Robin Williams, Adrian Brody, Joan Rivers, Vera Farmiga, Mila Jovovich, and Blythe Danner. He also directed Rainbow Day Camp, a documentary film that tells the story of a summer camp for gender creative children, which received critical acclaim and awards on the festival circuit. Horacio also has lent his talents as a professor of cinematography at Columbia University and at UCLA and LA Film Schools. He lives in New York.

Kirill Myltsev, Co-Director, Editor

Kirill is a highly regarded network/studio editor, originally from Moscow, Russia. He is a pioneer in his field, combining novel editing techniques with a more classic approach. Cannes Best Director Pavel Lungin said, “I can wholeheartedly praise Kirill’s wondrous film editing.” Kirill was born and raised by loving parents in Moscow and found fun and solace in reading world literature and studying film. That early passion led him to attend and graduate with a master’s degree in directing from the University of Moscow. He has edited over a dozen feature films in his native country of Russia. He arrived in the United States in 2018 and quickly made his mark editing commercials, documentaries, and narrative films. He lives in Los Angeles.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

A few months into the Pandemic, while the film industry was shutting down, I (Horacio, a cinematographer and immigrant from Panama) and Kirill (a film editor and immigrant from Moscow), seized the moment to fulfill our desire to meet people across the United States and record their stories about what it’s like to live in America today. Our vision was to invite vulnerability and capture the unfiltered narrative of the folks we would encounter. We spoke to a few non-profits and philanthropists about our concept and were fortunate to raise enough funds to cover our expenses. The two of us then hopped in my red Mini-Cooper in Los Angeles and began our nine-month journey (our original plan was to shoot for two months!). In the end, we conducted over 100 in-depth interviews, filmed our travels, and shot more than 10,000 B&W portraits of people from across the country, including gun shop owners, entertainers, police officers, political activists, aggrieved moms who had lost their children to gun violence, and undocumented immigrants struggling with uncertainty and food scarcity. America Unfiltered represents our raw, unadorned emotional encounters with these people and engenders hope for a better tomorrow.