- Born
- Birth nameNelson E. Carvajal
- Nicknames
- Nels
- Chicago's Enfant Terrible
- Sultan of Splice
- Height5′ 6″ (1.68 m)
- Nelson Carvajal, the oldest son of Maria Hernandez and Nelson G. Carvajal, was born in the city of Chicago, Illinois and grew up in the Logan Square neighborhood. From the time he was eight years old, Nelson immersed himself in movies; whether it was reading Roger Ebert in the weekly Chicago Sun-Times or staying up late watching old VHS tapes of "Goodfellas" and "Dog Day Afternoon," it was apparent that this young individual was in love with the cinema.
While attending Chicago's Lane Tech College Prep High School, Nelson's concentration was in Theater Tech Studies, an area that coincided with movies and gave Nelson the opportunity to direct one-act plays. In 2002 Nelson, only a junior in high school, achieved early admission into the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. By high school graduation, however, Nelson wasn't realistically equipped to survive financially in New York (he was the first in his immediate family to go to college). As a result, Nelson enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. There on campus, Nelson became a film critic in the Arts & Entertainment section of the university's newspaper "The Pointer." In May of 2007, Nelson graduated from UWSP with a B.A. in Communication & Media Studies, along with a minor in Writing.
Nelson has since established himself as a considerable force in the independent film movement, embracing digital, experimental filmmaking--while helping to grow the new media movie format that has since emerged. He is an impassioned supporter of the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) approach to producing content. His underground digital short films have been featured in the Fractured Lens Video Festival, the Bucktown Arts Festival, the Avant-Garde Remixed, the Cinema Culture's Seen and Heard Music Video Showcase, the Gadabout DIY Film Festival, the South Loop Film Festival, the Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival, the UFO 0110 International Digital Film Festival, the Chicago International Movies and Music Festival (CIMM Fest), the Indie Boots Film Festival, the Oregon Independent Film Festival and the London Underground Film Festival. Added, Nelson's video essays on cinema are published in the Press Play Video Blog at indieWIRE and in the Keyframe section of Fandor.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
- Often chooses to work with non-professional actors
- Employs aspects of Neo-Neo Realism in his body of work
- Handheld visuals coupled with unorthodox sounds and music are prominent in his video art pieces and experimental short films.
- His video installations contain appropriated mixed media
- Received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
- Worked at the A.V. Club for the Onion newspaper, as an intern in the same office as the section's head writer Nathan Rabin.
- Graduated from Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago, Illinois.
- His parents are from Costa Rica (mother) and Ecuador (father).
- During the summers in between his undergraduate years, he worked as a both an Operations Coordinator and Manager for AMC Entertainment. Working in the heart of downtown Chicago gave him unusual access to meet film directors such as Todd Haynes, Tony Gilroy, Philippe Barcinski, Paul Oremland & Steven Sawalich and actors such as John C. Reilly, Jerry Seinfeld, Christian Bale, Michael Cera, & Jonah Hill.
- I get uncomfortable sometimes when people ask me what I think my work means. I think a Director explaining his or her work or visual art -- in particular with film -- can be a fruitless endeavor at times. It is what it is. The sad thing is, that kind of rationale pisses off most people.
- When in doubt, look it up on IMDb.
- If I want to tell a story or a share my view on something and have no money for high-end resources, I'll still manage to deliver my project. Whether it's filming something on my phone or recording audio on a tape recorder and displaying still photos in the back of a café, the power of the content will always triumph. It's not about how pretty your work is, it's about how true it is to what you're trying to express.
- I decided to "do it myself" because I quickly realized that indie filmmaking had split into two arenas: commercial indie and new media DIY indie.
- The great thing about the time we're living in is that we have FREE tools to make this happen. It's getting harder for new artists to hide behind the "I'm waiting for the right moment to break in" facade.
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