Fil-Am’s video wins Damon and Affleck’s short film award

WATCH Joshua Ortiz’s “Listen”

SAN FRANCISCO — Joshua Ortiz, a Filipino American filmmaker, recently topped more than 20,000 entries across the United States to win in the first-ever annual Greenie Awards launched by actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Project Greenlight.

Ortiz’s entry “Listen” won the Most Unique Short Film award. Originally from San Francisco but now Orlando, Florida resident, Ortiz made a $30-short film for his younger siblings (the golfer and ice skater in the film). It went on to inspire thousands of people around the world.

“I made it for my two siblings because I know that people will try and tell them that their dreams are not worth chasing, but I want them to know that no matter what people say and what failures come their way, you can’t give up,” Ortiz said.

Filmmaker Joshua Ortiz

“Since my siblings loved it, we decided to submit it to a contest. and out of thousands of entries across the nation, the film recently won the Most Unique Short Film in Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Project Greenlight on HBO and had the most views among all the contestants. Also, the film played at several high school assemblies to inspire the youth to reach for their dreams,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz’s film has gone on to win multiple awards at film festivals and even played at high school assemblies to inspire the students and teachers.

Ortiz has done videos for celebrities like Shaquille O’neal, Olympic gold medalist Bob Beamon and radio host Monica May. His video started to spread online and the video’s motivational message caught the attention of Yahoo, Elite Daily, and several other news websites.

His latest film adventure was in Sydney, Australia where he filmed three mini-documentaries for the Adge Hotel, Cambridge Hotel and Gelato Messina.

Project Greenlight is a documentary series on HBO that takes an uncensored look at the challenges facing first-time directors.

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