Cinema as a tool for awareness

Jonathan Sarmiento is a Mexican film director, screenwriter and producer who understands cinema as a tool for awareness, human transformation and social responsibility.

His path was not linear. For three years he studied Medicine, trying to meet his family's expectations, until he found the courage to admit that his true calling was in the performing arts and cinematic storytelling. He then moved to Spain, where he trained professionally as an actor and began working in theater, film and television projects.

Working inside the artistic industry showed him both its creative dimension and some of its most complex environments. During a period of personal searching, he lived through situations that made him deeply question who he was, what he was willing to do in order to belong, and what kind of person he wanted to become.

A serious family crisis brought him back to Mexico. Although that return may have looked like an interruption of his career, over time it became a turning point and an opportunity to rebuild. Jonathan stepped away from circumstances that did not match his values and began to develop a more human, critical and conscious view of life, success and the purpose of his profession.

From then on, he found in directing and screenwriting a way to turn his experiences into stories that provoke reflection. His first feature, Cuando den las tres, a film adaptation of a Spanish stage play, was moved into the Mexican social context to address the rise of self-defense groups, distrust in institutions and the danger of answering violence with more violence. The audience's reaction confirmed what he already sensed: a film can entertain, but it can also confront viewers with their choices and their consequences.

Although he later proved his skill directing horror and was advised to specialize in the genre for its commercial potential, he chose not to limit his career to a profitable formula. For Jonathan, cinema holds a force far too important to be used only as a consumer product. He believes images and stories can influence collective awareness, question normalized behavior and plant the possibility of change.

His projects — dramas, comedies, genre films or audiovisual content — share a single intention: to leave something in the viewer. His stories speak about family, love, corruption, violence, human decisions, personal responsibility and the possibility of transforming our environment.

Jonathan believes that true love does not disappear but transforms in the face of circumstance; that no person can build their own well-being by harming another; and that every creator carries a responsibility for the message they release into the world.

More than a technically prepared filmmaker, Jonathan Sarmiento is a valuable human and creative asset: a director with artistic sensibility, critical awareness, international experience and a deeply humanitarian vision. His greatest challenge is not a lack of ideas, training or talent, but finding producers, investors and collaborators who share his conviction that cinema can be financially viable without giving up its purpose.

Jonathan is not only looking to make films. He wants to create stories that move people, awaken awareness and remind viewers that they are also responsible for the reality they help build.