From Storyboards to Saria, an Academy-Nominated Short Film

We love the variety of work we do, helping commercial and creative directors bring their stories to life.

But sometimes our work takes on an incredible life of its own, as it did last summer when we first began talking with Matt Lefebvre about storyboards he needed for a new film he was working on.

Fast forward to last month, Saria, the live-action short film written and directed by Bryan Buckley and produced by Matt and Aura Santamaria, was nominated for an Oscar® — and we were thrilled to hear the news.

Saria is based on a true story about children living in a Guatemalan orphanage in 2017 and their hopes of breaking free to escape to America. (View the trailer.)

Given today’s climate where immigration is regularly in the headlines both here and abroad, Bryan’s film feels particularly timely and relevant.

When Matt told us of his plan to produce Saria, we quickly agreed to come on board and begin the process of creating storyboards to communicate Bryan’s vision for the film. The series of illustrations would serve a dual purpose, as many of the Saria film crew members didn’t speak English and the young actors were new to filmmaking, too.

Saria, a new film by Bryan Buckley, follows two sisters plotting an escape from an abusive orphanage in Guatemala to find freedom in the U.S. The film is in theaters in New York City at the IFC Center.

Saria’s Storyboards

Bryan Buckley (shown here with Yamilca Montanez) is Saria’s writer and director.

Joe recalls the project and says, “The storyboards needed to represent the many action sequences in the film and the suspense and movement. They were enjoyable to board because Bryan creates taut scenes that I could explore visually.”

With the short film storyboarded from beginning to end, Joe calls the work “significant” and says he was able to do it in a different illustration method than what he normally does — in pencil style.

Joe says that working on Saria afforded him more flexibility to explore scenes and, of course, do so in a less-compressed timeline. “I had the opportunity to design a scene to make it more suspenseful or convey other emotions. Ultimately, the script is the bible, and Bryan is a phenomenal communicator whose direction is clear.”

Even though Joe does storyboard work for a living, he says he still finds it all rather remarkable that a good storyboard can so effectively convey ideas. “Even though people say they can think visually,” Joe says, “when they see a storyboarded scene they often say, Ah. Now I get it!”

Yamilca Montanez’s Contribution and Connection

Saint James Studios’ artist rep and marketing manager Yamilca Montanez plays a huge role in everything we do for clients. But her work on this project became even more significant and meaningful because Yamilca’s family is from El Salvador, which shares its northwest border with Guatemala.

“Not only is this a true story,” says Yamilca, “it’s relevant and one that holds a special place in my heart because of my heritage.”

Joe says the world of commercials, short films and movies is “full of unsung Yamilcas” — women who play large and too-often behind-the-scenes roles in productions.

Joe says, “A producer — in Saria’s case, Matt — typically contacts Yamilca with a heads-up on a project. Once the work starts, Yamilca manages the process of getting me or another person from our team onboarded and connected to the project. With most any project we tackle, there’s a significant amount of communication and project management work. Yamilca keeps the process moving along, with every milestone and deadline top of mind.”

“We’ve been connected to Oscar-nominated work before,” Joe says, “but this is the first time Yamilca received attribution as the storyboard coordinator for Saria — and I’m so happy for her.”

Saint James Studios at the Saria Screening

Recently, Joe and Yamilca enjoyed attending a screening of Saria with Bryan, Matt and others connected to the film. In the Q&A session that followed the showing, Bryan talked about how unfortunate it is that this tragic story is buried in national news.

Screening attendees also heard from a witness who now is an advocate for the survivors of the tragedy. She shared a heart-wrenching story about having to identify the many young girls’ bodies in the hospital following the tragic fire.

The Saint James Studio team congratulates Bryan, Matt, Aura and the international Saria team for their compelling and courageous film.