INVENTO Films is a venezuelan/american company created in 2012 by Marianela Maldonado and Robin Todd, filmmakers who have developed an audiovisual career in the UK, Europe and Latin America, by writing, directing and editing both short and feature films and animations. Luisa De La Ville joined them shortly after as the producer and executive producer of their projects.
Currently, Invento Films is postproducing the documentary film Los Niños de las Brisas(The Children of Las Brisas), shot over the past six years in one of the most dangerous slums of the world. This challenging documentary follows the life of six empoverished children in Valencia, Venezuela, in their quest of becoming professional musicians in a country on the verge of chaos.
The company is also developing two feature films:El Vientre de La Ballena (The Belly of The Whale) and El Aguacate (The avocado, animated feature film coproduced by Breakthru Films in UK) and is also codeveloping a colombian animated feature film for children Jerónimo y La Sombra (Geronimo and the shadow).
In recent years,Invento Films has broaden its services, offering script doctor consultancy and all sorts of videography.
DIRECTOR / SCREENWRITER
MARIANELA MALDONADO - Graduated from the NFTS in the UK, Marianela wrote and directed The Look of Happiness and Breaking Out short films premiered at Cannes Film Festival. As a screenwriter, Marianela has worked in several fiction and animation features and short films among them Peter and the Wolf (Oscar winner 2008), Unmade Beds (Sundance, Berlin, Rotterdam 2009), The Flying Machine (Toronto & 3D Films Festival 2012/2013) and Magic Piano (New York Film Festival, 2011 and pre-selected for the Academy Awards in 2012). Thanks to her successful short films and her work as a screenwriter, she was selected for the prestigious Writing Residence Cannes Film Festival. As documentary director, she has worked for BBC World and co-directed a documentary tv series Bio-patents and ancestral Knowledge for Latin American TV. She is now editing her documentary feature film The Children of Las Brisas, shot over the last six years in a dangerous slum of Venezuela.
DIRECTOR / SCREENWRITER / DIRECTOR PHOTOGRAPHIA
Robin Todd - Currently based in California, Robin studied at the London Film School (LFS). He has extensive experience working as a director, writer, cinematographer, editor, and animator in fiction, documentary and animation. He co-wrote The Magic Piano which was a 2012 Oscars final shortlist. His recent films include the science fiction short film, Sk8rz which participated festivals all over the world including Pifan in Korea and Fantastic Fest in Austin. While living in Venezuela for several years he directed and shot an 8 part TV documentary series: Biopiracy and Ancestral Knowledge. He also shot the documentary short film The Barrel which was premiered in DocHot 2013 and was a festival favorite. He just finished his documentary short film The Apricots of Forcefield, which will be soon sent to festivals around the world.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Luisa de la Ville is a Venezuelan director and producer with 35 years of experience in film and television. She has produced well known fiction feature films including Taita Boves, El Enemigo (with major awards in national and international festivals), Al Borde de La Línea and Plan B between 2002 and 2010. She has also directed films for TV and has been AD in more than 25 national and international feature films between 1976 and 2011. Recently, she is producing the feature documentaries The Children of Las Brisas, by Marianela Maldonado; and The Lori Berenson Story, by Suzie Baer.
SCREENWRITER / COACH / DESIGNER
Ciro Ramos - Actor, director, web designer and blogger. He’s behind two Venezuelan blogs: La Ejecución Actoral, based on his book about acting techniques, and Viviendo mi tiempo (Living my time), about different contemporary topics in Venezuela. He works as a designer for many web and multimedia projects, where he also programs digital animations and applications. He is the animator of the short El Papagayo (The kite, 2000), directed by Peggy González Ramos. He has also produced and directed theatre plays like Dos mujeres dos tiempos, La madre and Las Hermanitas Blancos Dientes, among others.
SCREENWRITER / STORY EDITOR
Jessica Wenzelmann - Graduated as a journalist with a Master’s Degree on History of the Americas. She’s been working as story editor for the last twelve years for many TV series, such as Biopiratería y Conocimiento Ancestral, Cambia La Ruta, Amazonian Project, Casas del Caribe, Ritos y Costumbres, In Site and Más que un Souvenir. She wrote and co-directed the feature film Dos de Trébol (2014), screened in national and international festivals in Miami, Sydney and New York. Currently she’s working as the story editor of Marianela’s documentary film The Children of Las Brisas.
