Biography

Freddy Vargas is an award-winning filmmaker born in the Dominican Republic and educated in the United States. Having spent half of his life each of these places has allowed him to navigate the waters of two different cultures, experiences that enhance his work as a filmmaker. From his beginnings in film at St. John's University Freddy showed talent and dedication winning two years in a row the film competition with his shorts Uptown and Victor. Victor also went to win the Gold Plaque Award at the 1995 Chicago International Film Festival and was invited to the Telluride Film Festival the same year. Freddy also has two feature screenplays that have been produced, "In Search of a Dream" and "Red Passport" (story). Other awards include ABC Entertainment Television Group Talent Development Program. Freddy's work have been shown around the world and showcased in prestigious places such as the American Museum of the Moving Image.

In 2007 Vargas made his short film The Woman from Columbus Circle, based on a short story by Dominican writer Franklyn Gutierrez. This short film was invited to the 2007 New York International Latino Film Festival. The same year and at the same festival Vargas was declared the winner of the 2007 HBO / NYILFF Short Film Competition for his screenplay titled Hispaniola. HBO awarded him 15,000 dollars to produce and direct the short in the Dominican Republic based on his screenplay. The resulting short film, Hispaniola was showcased at the 2007 New York International Latino Film Festival and shown later that year on HBO on demand as part of Hispanic Heritage month, after which the film ran on other HBO channels for a year. In 2008 Vargas is working on the development of a variety of projects. Amongst these is his comedy musical "Pinchos & Rolos", which had its world premiere at the 2008 NYILFF in its short film version. Other film festivals will follow, such as La Muestra Internacional de Cine de Santo Domingo. Vargas is penning the script for the feature film based on the same short, which he anticipates will be his feature film debut.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Alci Enrique Medina