ESD Alumni Hope to Expand Short Movie to Feature Film
It’s rare to realize your professional dreams while in high school. But in Suzette Corona’s film class at the Episcopal School of Dallas, friends Cesar Jasso and David Redish discovered theirs — making movies.
“I remember taking film class at ESD, and at the time David wasn’t as interested in film as he is now,” Jasso said. “I said to him, ‘I just took this cool class, and I think you’d really enjoy it.’ I think that may be what got the ball rolling. I guess you could say maybe I planted the seed, but David really ran with it.”
The pair graduated from ESD in 2005. Jasso went on to earn a degree in international relations from Texas A&M, while Redish studied film at SMU.
In August of 2010, the pair reunited to found their boutique production company, Slice Media, where their projects range from political commercials to concert recaps. Their latest endeavor, a tragic love story called John and Claudia, had Redish behind the camera as director and Jasso as one of the producers.
“The story is very metaphorical to my personal experience with love lost,” Redish said. “Nobody died in my circumstances, but it was a life-changing thing, and I felt like I needed a story that would embrace those themes and be more dramatic than my story — something I could really pour my honest emotions into.”
The nine-minute film took four days to produce, and was shot in two Texas towns, Whitewright and Marfa. The next step for the pair is to expand the short film into a full-length production.
“We got into this business for our ultimate goal: to make a feature film,” Jasso said. “David and I have high hopes for making several full-length original films together. Slice Media is the avenue that allows us to make those films.”
Regardless of where they end up, Jasso and Redish won’t forget where they first found their love for the trade.
“It really all did start at ESD, right there in Preston Hollow,” Redish said. “With playing around and hopefully not embarrassing our families too much with our filmmaking skills. That’s where it began.”
