Rafael Gutierrez
Director / Actor / Producer / Editor

Photograph by Rafael Gutierrez

Born on December 15, 1988 in the Dominican Republic and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Rafael has always had an interest in film. Enthusiastic about creating something aesthetic and thought provoking, he teamed up with Randy Joel Herrera to form Sinnermen Productions. 

Herrera and Rafael met after moving to Rhode Island from New York City where they both attended the same school. With more ambition than opportunity the duo, that came to be known as "The Sinnermen", began writing and shooting their own short films. Both coming from struggling middle class families, they began recording private events, to earn money to fund their projects. The high school that they attended did not offer a film program, this led to Herrera and Rafael learning how to edit video by a method of research and self tutoring. 

With every project that they faced they began building a buzz within their community as very ambitious young entrepreneurs. Rafael attended the University of Rhode Island in the summer of 2007. There he created a mini-series called "Campus Break" which involved many supportive friends and the creative assistance of Herrera. With a crew of 7 the mini-series created a buzz among the student community, while in production there were always interested bystanders watching the creation of an episode. This caught the attention of a known local entertainment group who hired Rafael to direct and produce a documentary in one of the popular events they were hosting. 

All of this buzz in the university led to a meeting with Jose Torrealba, Director of the Providence Latin American Film Festival, in which Herrera and Rafael became very close affiliates of the festival. Throughout many different small scale projects, Rafael has picked up experience and the support to expand to larger scale projects. Ambitious as always, Rafael takes on many challenges in the projects he works on. 

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