The Healer

A building inspector in poor health visits a home ready for demolition. He quarrels with an unexpected tenant and later wakes up on the floor of the empty home, in good health.

  • Alex Vargas
    Director
    RICE, SHASTA, Superheroes
  • Alex Vargas
    Writer
    RICE, SHASTA
  • Alex Vargas
    Producer
    RICE, SHASTA, Superheroes
  • José Avila
    Key Cast
    "Martin"
  • Jason Bow
    Key Cast
    "Jazz"
  • Alex Vargas
    Cinematography
    RICE, SHASTA, Superheroes
  • Vince Vilan
    Assistant Camera
  • Beau Takahara
    Production Assistants
  • Num Dorkasun
    Production Assistants
  • Alex Vargas
    Executive Producer
    RICE, SHASTA, Superheroes
  • Alex Vargas
    Editor
    RICE, SHASTA, Superheroes
  • Alex Vargas
    Composer
    RICE, SHASTA, Superheroes
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student, Web / New Media
  • Runtime:
    6 minutes 12 seconds
  • Production Budget:
    1,000 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:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes
Director Biography - Alex Vargas

Writer, Producer, Director, DoP, Editor, Composer

Alex Vargas was born with a keen sense of observation to a family of musicians in Montevideo, Uruguay. He quickly became aware that there had been some sort of mix up as the disparity between what felt important to him and what others seemed interested in only seemed to increase throughout his childhood. By the time he was a teenager he had developed a full grown sense of alienation that fueled his courageous exit strategy and landed him in Spain at 18 years old. He arrived in Europe with an immense amount of forward moving energy, intelligence, talent, an airway ticket with no return and a 20-dollar bill given to him in ceremonious fashion by his wealthy grandfather. While Alex had been performing on stage since the age of 12, attended a prestigious international school, and was accepted into a classical theatre school in Uruguay at only 17, it wasn’t until he arrived in Europe that he began to feel seen by others in a way that felt closer to his experience of self. He then travelled through Europe collecting experiences and soon settled in Denmark as a songwriter and recording artist. It was in Denmark that Alex became a father and added yet one more talented musician and performer to the long line that had come before him, each of them arriving on the planet most likely sharing a feeling of wonder and curiosity too enormous to be contained by only one language, country or continent.

In addition to being a captivating storyteller and natural performer Alex has also taught yoga, self-discipline, music therapy for children and adults with special needs, drama, and worked privately as a personal health coach as well as serving as a group travel director for a Swedish company. He also spent five years within the nonprofit sector as program director and national counselor for a California based international student exchange organization and then started a small video production company in San Francisco, since 2008. In 2008 he also worked as director and later as a consultant for a fashion design company in Denmark, after which Alex attended film school at the School of Liberal Arts, Film Department, CCSF in San Francisco. With regard to the future, Alex is considering securing a sailboat and traveling the seas. He is also fluent in both canine and feline languages, connects deeply with all animals and feels most at home when in nature.

Beth Hayes, Psy.D., MFT (Alex is a friend, not a patient)

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Director Statement

In 2008 I decided to stop working in the nonprofit sector, in what was both a directorial and counseling position, to open a company that would allow me to help people in need to market their products and expand my abilities as both a storyteller and cinematographer. In 2010 I joined a film school in San Francisco, where I could meet people to crew with and then select those I would want to crew for me, in my planned projects. The people who worked on this short film where all exceptional and all participants in the same film school. Beau lent us her house, Jason was perfect for his role, Vincent was an ideal Assistant Camera, Num and Beau where Production Assistants and Jose, Jose was a special young man. Jose was admitted to the school, even though he has a different level of perception to that which the rest of us had. The instructor for that class had simply delegated different subjects to all students who had already created teams and left the last student, Jose, as my responsibility. I had earlier been an instructor for 5 years, which dedicated the majority of my classes to only special needs students. So in respect to Jose, I decided to write a short story that would fit him, which is otherwise not what a director would do. In general, we hire an actor to play special needs. But I had Jose. And though I knew it would take me longer to shoot it, I chose to give him an acting role where he would shine, instead of a production assistant role. That same year, the film school's own film festival, which had a limit on duration of short films, also had a submissions deadline and I was not able to submit, for the assignment I was given took too long to complete. But I knew that someday, this little student short would have its own place.