MELANCOLíA

DACA recipient, Latinx and a rising star in Hollywood, Jorge Xolalpa (Sho-lal-pa) Jr., is an award winning independent filmmaker residing in Los Angeles, California.

From an early age, Jorge dreamed of becoming a commercial airline pilot. However, due to suffering from a high level of astigmatism and fear from surgery, Jorge decided to give up on that career goal at the age of 17. After many attempts at career soul searching, Jorge found himself drawn into politics, which eventually led him to pursue a law degree. Throughout his college years, Jorge kept a journal where he wrote ideas that eventually became some of his early short-films.

In 2014, Jorge launched Mighty Aphrodite Pictures, a production and finance company that concentrates in the creation of content with female protagonists. Most of the material is written by Jorge, with the hopes of developing good quality films.

In 2016 Jorge had the great fortune of directing his very first feature film titled Blue Line Station (2016), starring Summera Howell and Leo Ramsey. Blue Line Station (2016) was filmed entirely on an iPhone 6 PLUS and an anamorphic adapter, in eleven days and with a budget of only $100. Without any experience, Jorge took it upon himself to grab his iPhone and fearlessly went out to shoot the film, a film that successfully made it's way into 46 films festivals, making the 2017 "Top 10 Films Shot On An iPhone" Indiewire list.

In 2017 Jorge directed his second film Valentina (2017) starring Victoria del Rosal, Estela Garcia and Eduardo Roman. This was Jorge's first film entirely in Spanish which was also shot with a budget of $500 - Valentina went on to play in more than 40 films festivals, won several Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actress awards and even qualified for a Fenix Award Nomination.

Following the success with Valentina, in 2018 Jorge decided to reunite with Summera Howell, Julia Gallagher and Craig Robert Young for his third film Sweet Caroline (2018) - a dark thriller which critics have said to be in the vein of Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan (2010). Sweet Caroline premiered at the Sunscreen Film Festival, taking home the Best Picture award, continuously making its way through the film festival circuit.

Xolalpa recently (2019) had the honor of directing his fourth feature film Your Iron Lady (2020), a film based on a short story written by Jorge's mother.

Although Jorge did not attend film school, his writing and directing method have been critically acclaimed by many in the industry. His thematic is constantly very dark and dramatic. Jorge's has publicly admitted that he is heavily inspired by the works of Woody Allen, David Fincher, and Darren Aronofsky.

Jorge is a full-time Filmmaker. Make no mistake, Jorge is well experienced in many fields, including but not limited to Real Estate Development, Real Estate Property Management and Business Management. With his strong interpersonal business skills, Jorge is always ready to take on the next project.