Area filmmaker mines magic

“I thought movies were like magic. I didn’t know humans made them,” said El Paso-Las Cruces filmmaker Josh Pulito.

Pulito, who turned 24 on March 8, shot his first film at age 10 with his family’s flip camera and will graduate from New Mexico State University’s Creative Media Institute with a degree in digital filmmaking in May. He lives in El Paso but commutes to Las Cruces for classes at CMI because “there’s a bigger film scene in Las Cruces.”

Pulido formed his own film production company at age 10 and has made nearly a dozen short films, with more in the works. Pulido likes making micro-films, which are one-to-two minutes long, because “every single shot has to mean something,” he said. He has gained experience with all of them through writing scripts, directing, editing and doing the cinematography and sound mixing, as well as adding the special effects – everything but the acting, in fact.

His films have screened in Las Cruces and Santa Fe, as well as in El Paso, Austin and Los Angeles. His short film “Pop By” (1:52) won for best comedy and tied for best editing at the New Mexico Film Foundation in 2019 and was also nominated for best horror film at the Austin Micro Short Film Festival. “Pop By” tells the story of a young man heating up a late-night snack and meeting an expected guest while waiting for a friend.

His film "Reply All" (8:20) was named best romantic comedy at the Indy Short Fest in Los Angeles and won best student short film at the 2020 El Paso Media Fest. The film also screened at the Las Cruces International Film Festival (LCIFF) on March 6.

Pulito, Skyler Carreon of Truman Pictures and their entire team came up with the idea for “Reply All” for LCIFF’s 2019 48 Hour Film Challenge.

They stayed up all night to film in both El Paso and Las Cruces in cold weather. “Everyone was shivering on the set,” Pulito said.

Three of Pulido’s films are on the festival circuit right now and have been accepted to eight festivals so far. He has made successful music videos for Cosplayer and “Ginny Di,” who has more than 125,000 subscribers on YouTube.

Pulido recently completed work on a television commercia for Zia Comics in Las Cruces and filmed and edited a music video for CMI graduate and instructor Julian Alexander that screened recently on national television.

Pulido is currently writing the script for his next film project, which he plans to shoot this summer in Las Cruces and El Paso. He also has a full-length feature, tentatively titled “Devil Dogs” in mind as a sequel to “Reply All,” which entered festivals with this synopsis: “One Email. Five People. No time to lose. Ashley has to figure out what to do when she accidentally sends everyone she knows the same love letter.”

In addition to his interest in film, Pulido has been playing the piano since he was 12 years old. “Music is a big part of my filmmaking, and I plan to start incorporating original scores/soundtracks in my films within the next couple of films this year,” he said.

Making good films is “all about lighting,” Pulito said, adding that his favorite part about filmmaking is visual effects. His advice to would-be filmmakers: “Find your vision and go for it.” Phone cameras and inexpensive lights will work to get started, he said. “The equipment will come later.”

Pulito said his goal as a filmmaker is “to make people happy and laugh and have a good time” with films “that also mean something. I like telling stories about people overcoming things and gaining confidence, breaking down barriers and escaping situations,” he said.

In addition to making his own films, Pulido is available as a freelance filmmaker, to create television and/or web commercials, headshot photography, VHS conversion, corporate video and photography, short film production and music video creation.
For more information, contact Pulido at 915-504-4344 and gyrostudios@gmail.com. Visit

www.gyrostudios.net. You can also find him on Instagram and Facebook.