Santiago Paladines

Santiago was born in the small town of Loja, Ecuador. From a very early age he developed a special bond with the arts, always relating himself with music, cinema and other forms of artistic expression. He graduated from Bethany College, with a BA in Film and Television and a minor in Music. He also studied documentary at NHK Japan with a full scholarship. For a period of 5 years Santiago worked for a documentary TV-Show in Ecuador, producing and directing more than 80 mini doc pieces around the world. As Head of Production at Ecuavisa, an Ecuadorian TV network, he has written, directed, and produced several TV programs and documentaries including an eight-episode drama called PARECE QUE FUE AYER. In 2012, he wrote and directed his first documentary feature film, called ESTRELLA 14. The film was released in theatres nationally and voted the best film of the year. Subsequently, he started the production of his second documentary feature film about the Ecuadorian National soccer team which has recently completed production. Santiago just finished his MFA in film Directing at the American Film Institute where he directed 4 narrative short films three of which he also wrote. Santiago came to AFI with a full Scholarship awarded by the Ecuadorian Government and became the first Ecuadorian to make it to the AFI Directing Program. He is currently working on the development of his first feature film script that he hopes to shoot in Ecuador and the EEUU.