When Catalina Querida and Joe Manco started Little Spark Films in Arlington back in 2013, they were seeking an alternative for their punk rock band’s music videos. As Querida put it, “We were working with someone else to make music videos, and Joe was not happy about how the music videos turned out, so I said you should try it since you went to school for it, just go ahead and do it. And then it started an obsession.”
That obsession grew into a full-blown horror movie production company based in North Texas. Over the last 13 years, Querida and Manco have collaborated with teams of local creatives to produce a variety of projects, including commercials, short films, and feature films. Production was recently wrapped on a horror project near and dear to Querida and Manco’s heart, titled, “Bridgette Wrona and the Whisper Creek Murders.”
Written by Preston Fassel and produced-directed by Mary Beth McAndrews, along with producer Larissa Dali—who also appears in the film—the story centers female characters. McAndrews described it to The Dallas Morning News as, “’weird-girl cinema’ at its finest. We’re looking at it as a gateway horror film for young women who maybe don’t know if they like horror or they want to dip their toes in it.”
The producer/director added, “So it’s very ‘girl power,’ almost all women in all of the roles, and it’s also got some queer vibes to it, as well.” Dali expanded on this idea, saying, “I’m really excited to see the response to all of the different female characters that are so individual in their own right, living their own lives without any of the romance, there’s quite literally none of that in there and it’s very interesting.”
Little Spark Films shot the feature in North Texas at familiar spots like Arlington’s Old School Pizza Tavern and Dallas’s Deep Cuts Coffee. As an added bonus, most of the crew and cast members on the set were locals, highlighting the company’s commitment to providing opportunities and expansion for its community.
Little Spark Films is bringing a Stan Lee project to life
Up next for the Latino-owned production company is “Night of the Witch,” a project originally drafted by Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee and Lloyd Kaufman of Troma Entertainment in 1969. Over the last few decades, the idea has never come to feature film fruition, but Catalina Querida and Joe Manco are hoping to change that.
The duo originally came across the story of “Night of the Witch” in the book “Make Your Own Damn Movie!” penned by Kaufman himself. They established a relationship with the Troma Entertainment president and eventually pitched him the idea of Little Spark Films developing the project. Manco said, “We went after ‘Night of the Witch’ before we became a studio — We wanted it bad.”
Part of the reason why Manco and Querida were so invested in the story is because it follows main character Elsie Gomez, a Mexican-American trying to navigate the seclusion of small town life in a largely white area of Texas. Querida told The Dallas Morning News, “It was wild when we found out that Elsie was Mexican American, because we’re Mexican American and as people who have that lived experience, maybe we can understand Elsie better and this story better.”
“Night of the Witch” hasn’t officially been greenlit yet, but Little Spark is hopeful it will be soon so casting and production can kick off shortly thereafter.
The production company received a financial boost last year
One of the reasons why Little Spark Films can pursue these opportunities and provide more work for local creatives is thanks in part to a $1 million investment made from Chris C. Rushing, a notable producer. Prior to Rushing’s funding, Catalina Querida and Joe Manco funded each project entirely by themselves.
In a statement released when the funding was first announced in February, Manco wrote, “There are a lot of projects we’ve wanted to tackle for a long time now. This gives us the privilege to meet other filmmakers and help make their stories ignite. We’re looking forward to getting this fire roaring.”
This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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