George Cotayo

George Cotayo has excelled as a professional filmmaker and audiovisual technical virtuoso since his big-screen debut on the independent feature film "Decapolis II" (1988), in which he demonstrated his versatility as co-producer, co-director, director of photography and editor: a virtual one-man orchestra in the cinematic arena.

The satirical, surrealistic fantasy-drama was inspired by a short story written by his brother, journalist, novelist and filmmaker Charles Cotayo, for a fiction workshop at The Florida State University during the mid 1980s. Visually beautiful and innovative, "Decapolis II" was a labor of love, dedication and perseverance that was filmed on weekends in various locations throughout South Florida, where he was raised, with a cast of local actors and technicians.

The movie was photographed in color and black-and-white, 16mm and 35mm, and rated R by the MPAA. The Cotayo Bros. became their own distributors after the picture was turned down by major studios, despite the consensus among industry professionals that technically and artistically it was an original motion picture that "showed talent." The promotional budget was also minuscule and limited the advertising campaign to a few ads in local newspapers and brief appearances on local TV shows, which proved insufficient to compete at the box office with the more highly promoted major releases, thus the film only remained in theatrical exhibition in Florida for approximately two weeks.

Mr. Cotayo later went on to produce, direct, photograph and edit vibrant, ultra-modern music videos, which further demonstrated his mastery of the film and television mediums. He also produced and directed a short film in Spanish, "At the End of the Road," which competed for a possible Academy Award nomination in the Live-Action Short category although it did not receive the nomination. Indefatigable in his determination to be recognized as a world-class filmmaker, George produced, directed, photographed and edited another "indie" feature: "Deco," which was later re-titled "Mind Twister." The film was a modest-budget and more traditionally "commercial" thriller, once again combining satirical and surrealistic ingredients with touches of light comedy and expertly crafted suspense and action sequences. "Mind Twister" was completed, confirmed the talent that executives in Hollywood had recognized in the past, but the movie never saw the light of distribution due to financial limitations that prevented a much needed post-production polish.

What "Decapolis II" and "Mind Twister" clearly demonstrated is that George has the eye of an innate artist who can make a shoestring budget film look like a multi-million dollar production. A graduate of the United States Naval School of Photography, his filmmaking expertise comes from creating his own movies, virtually single-handedly. He's also an award-winning documentary filmmaker who has worked extensively on outstanding projects recognizing the achievements of physically challenged athletes.

The feature motion picture "Carlita's Secret," a very interesting thriller that he also directed in South Florida, starring Eva Longoria, was once again proof positive that George is a versatile filmmaker with complete mastery of every technical aspect of the movie-making process and one of the finest directors in the industry.