The founder
Carlos Ferrer
Carlos Ferrer founded CGF Films in New York in 1999. Ferrer began making short films at the age of ten and established the company so that his work could be completed and released under a professional banner rather than remain student projects.
At sixteen, Ferrer directed a cast and crew of more than one hundred on his first feature, Scallop Pond, which received Best Student Feature at the Long Island Film Festival. Ferrer went on to study film at SUNY Purchase College, where he wrote and directed several award-winning short films and recorded a thirty-six-minute interview with Mary Tyler Moore. In 2008 Ferrer graduated with a BFA in Theatre Arts & Film.
The films on this site were produced by CGF Films, with Ferrer in most of the principal creative roles. More about CGF Films.
Retina
Six years on one feature
On Retina, Ferrer served as writer, director, cinematographer, composer, sound designer and visual effects artist. The budget required that arrangement at the outset, and it remained in place because the results met the standard the film needed.
Principal photography took a year and post-production five. Set extensions, composites and the effects shots were produced in-house, and Ferrer presented that work at SIGGRAPH in 2016. The Los Angeles Times profiled Ferrer in 2015, and Studio Daily reported on how a VFX-heavy feature was completed on a $200,000 budget.
The film was a collaborative production. Lindsay Goranson led a fifteen-person cast, Joshua Jenks and Jared Goldman worked the shoot, and the picture was filmed on location across New York. Ferrer covering the technical departments was a practical response to the budget of that production rather than a fixed working method.
Writing
Ferrer writes the films he directs
Retina, the short films and the trilogy now in development are all written by Ferrer.
Each story begins with something specific. Retina grew out of Ferrer’s experience of September 11th in New York City, where he was in high school at the time. The film is a thriller about a woman enrolled in a medical study and conditioned to carry out an act of terror.
That day really affected me, and I wanted to tell a story on multiple levels that gets at that feeling I remember – that something could happen again.
The form follows the story. America’s Nightmare addresses school shootings from a teenager’s perspective. Tomorrow is a six-minute short told without dialogue. Retina is a ninety-two-minute feature. The Popcorn Man received Best Student Short at the Long Island Film Festival. Across Ferrer’s work, the protagonist is usually a woman.
Ferrer came to writing through directing. His first feature, Scallop Pond, was written by Sabrina Ferrer and Chris Bird. Directing another writer’s script at sixteen, with a crew of more than one hundred, shaped his approach to his own screenplays: the script must answer the production’s questions before shooting begins.
Currently in development: a trilogy of three connected feature films, written as a single story told across three pictures, together with two short films. See what is in development.
Career
Timeline
1995
Starts making movies
Begins shooting films at the age of ten.
1999
CGF Films founded
The company is established in New York to make and finish original motion pictures.
2002
America’s Nightmare
A psychological short about school shootings, told from a teenager’s perspective. Screens at the Deep Ellum Film Festival.
2004
First feature, at sixteen
Directs Scallop Pond – a ninety-minute mystery thriller – with a cast and crew of more than a hundred, while still in high school.
2005
Best Student Feature
Scallop Pond wins at the Long Island Film Festival. The short Tomorrow screens there the same year.
2006
Mary Tyler Moore
Records a thirty-six-minute interview with Mary Tyler Moore while studying at SUNY Purchase.
2008
BFA, and a second festival win
Graduates from SUNY Purchase College with a BFA in Theatre Arts & Film. The Popcorn Man wins Best Student Short at the Long Island Film Festival.
2009–2015
Retina
Writes, directs, shoots, scores, mixes and builds the visual effects for a single feature: one year of shooting, five of post-production.
2015
Press coverage
The Los Angeles Times profiles him; Studio Daily details how a VFX-heavy feature got made for $200,000.
2016
SIGGRAPH
Presents the visual effects and set-extension work from Retina to the computer-graphics industry.
2018
Retina released
Screen Media Films releases the picture on 4 September. Gargoyles: Fan Film, shot in 2.35:1 on the streets of New York, arrives the same year.
Now
A trilogy, and two shorts
Writing and directing a trilogy of three connected feature films, alongside two shorts – Zoey, a fantasy, and Sound of Obsession, a horror short.
Details
For the record
- Born
- 16 July 1985, New York City
- Also credited as
- Carlos Gil Ferrer
- Education
- BFA Theatre Arts & Film, SUNY Purchase College (2008)
- Company
- CGF Films, founded 1999 – President
- Features
- Retina (2018) · Scallop Pond (2004)
- In development
- A feature trilogy (three films) · two shorts
- The two shorts
- Zoey · Sound of Obsession
- Awards
- Best Student Feature and Best Student Short, Long Island Film Festival
- Trademark
- The protagonists in his films are usually women
- Credits
- IMDb · carlosferrer.com
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