Yadira Pascault Orozco and Max Isaacson in "Do Not Disturb" directed by Hugo Ortiz Clemens
In 2023, Hugo Ortiz Clemens’ short film “Brenda” won first place at the Texas Union Film Festival. This year, he showcased his undergraduate thesis film “Do Not Disturb” at Austin Film Festival in the Best Lil’ Shorts in Texas program. The film follows two C-List actors Isla and Ryan (wonderfully played by Yadira Pascault Orozco and Max Isaacson) as they attempt to film a sex tape to kickstart their Hollywood careers. The Daily Texan sat down with Ortiz Clemens (radio-television-film ‘23) to discuss the progression of his filmmaking career and his ambitious short film.
The Daily Texan: You created “Do Not Disturb” as your undergraduate thesis film. Did you ever imagine it would reach this big of an audience?
Hugo Ortiz Clemens: The thesis part was the excuse — I was gonna make it, and it was awesome to make it within the resources the university offered for being a thesis film. I knew I wanted to make it because it (would) be my last film as an undergrad here, so I wanted to take advantage of as many resources as I could.
DT: What do you hope audiences take away from your short film?
HOC: There’s not a lot of meritocracy (in the film industry) and there’s a lot of stuff that plays into it. But at the same time, we still want to be a part of it in a weird way. .… You don’t have to agree with how everything works and how everything is to still want to be a part of it, because it’s gray — it’s never black and white. There’s some good things and there’s some very bad things about it. But in the end, it’s all about knowing your limits — where you would go and where you don’t want to go as an artist (and) to be able to put your work out there.
Excerpts from: https://thedailytexan.com/2024/11/03/rtf-alumnus-showcases-his-thesis-film-do-not-disturb-at-austin-film-festival/
Yadira Pascault Orozco is a French Mexican film, television, and theater actress and producer based in Los Angeles. She has most recently worked on the hit Telemundo series La Jefa and on Netflix's Los Corruptores.
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