Mario Zermeno(I)

Director, Writer, Producer Mario Zermeno, is a Native Angelino. As the lyricist and lead singer for the Punk and Jazz influenced band '13', Mario explored lyrics influenced by Beat Writer William S. Burroughs non-linear narrative and raw autobiographical style of Charles Bukowski. The band had a great four year run, encapsulated by the recording of their debut album and as an opening act for the band Morphine's final tour with front man Mark Sandman. Working his way through many positions in the film industry, Mario began exploring screenplay writing and often throws his readers through a loop. As Mario explains, "Readers often don't know what to make of my screenplays, as I buck the traditional form of storytelling, but when I turn them into film, they are received with excitement. I think it has to do with how I tend to turn the subconscious into a lead character". With few prospects to produce his features, Mario focused on filming short films. His first, MAY DAY, was filmed in 16mm using live footage of political protests to recreate Plato's Allegory of the Cave. Mario followed up with SEX AND VIOLENCE REVISITED, a twisted story of a man in lust with his computer and the Kafkaesque GOODBYE HORSES which follows a young man's struggle to conform his lifestyle to accommodate his health insurance. During this period Mario was working in the film industry as a Jack-of-all-Trades, it was his time as an AD (Garth Brooks CBS Concert, Pasty Faces) that he found himself working long hours and reaping little satisfaction. Mario decided to refocus on writing. Mario quietly uncovered a scheme of insider trading while working IT at an internet startup. This inspired him to write the feature script MOSQUITO STATE, in which an obsessive Wall Street data analyst experiences a psychological breakdown when his computer models behave erratically, as do the swarms of mosquitoes breeding in his apartment. MOSQUITO STATE was produced in 2020 by Royall Road Entertainment. The film premiered at the 77th Venice Film Festival where Eric Koretz won Best Cinematography for his work on the film. Mosquito State garnered much critical acclaim and won several more awards at notable festivals throughout the world, eventually being distributed by AMC and showcased on the Shudder streaming service. Mario is establishing his raw, magical realism perspective as a film maker that fits somewhere between the work of David Lynch and Terrence Malick. Mario is currently developing two feature screenplays WHEN YOU'RE PSYCHIC, where a successful record executive struggles to connect his disjointed life experiences through his discovery of empathy, and GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHT, which is a modern narrative of Hieronymus Bosch's panels, in a raw and existential horror of discrimination. Ultimately, it is his love of short films that has Mario declaring, "No matter what's going on in life, I will always make time to write and produce shorts". It is to that testament Mario has taken two years of 'on and off 'filming, acting, editing, composing, producing, and finally completing the short film RED CHAIR in which Dante scavenges through the notorious Los Angeles streets with the hope of redemption. He has also recently filmed the award winning Comedy/Horror short 8:20, where a Terrorists struggles to accomplish her task while haunted by a Ghost in the subway, and the recent Best Thriller, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Actor winner at LA Live Film Festival, MARBLE in which a Woman sidetracks her writing career to care for a mysterious boy who shows up at her home looking for his lost marble.