
--
A renowned Director of commercials, film and documentary, Director Pascui Rivas attends the Santa Barbara Film Festival for the World Premiere of his labor of love, Ordinary Gods. Filmed in eight different countries over the course of three years, the first-time feature director offers a compassionate observation of the lives of six young professional soccer players, as they struggle with injury, homesickness, and the pressure of being a young talent on the international stage.
Click here to view the trailer: https://vimeo.com/314107826/aef7386826
For over a decade, Rivas has occupied a space between film and commercials, winning a Silver Lion at Cannes Lions and Best of Show Award at the AdAge/AHAA Awards for a Toyota Corolla campaign he directed, the very first Lion in the history of advertising agency Conill Saatchi & Saatchi. Since 2006, Rivas has been shaping the US Hispanic market, marking him as a trailblazing Director with long-lasting relationships with the likes of CA Lottery and Toyota, resulting in riveting national and international campaigns.
His contributions also include celebrated branded work with Mexican rock/pop singer Natalia Lafourcade, (for which he won a Webby Award), along with a film he directed for UNICEF receiving numerous international awards and a Gold Medal at the New York Festival. Rivas continued to pursue his passion for film with the short Jean Lewis, which premiered at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.
A testament to human perseverance, Ordinary Gods examines what it takes to thrive -- not just in the worlds most beloved sport, soccer -- but also in life itself. The globetrotting documentary dives deep into the captivating lives of aspiring soccer players with a unified dream - to pursue their passion on the world's most prestigious soccer stages. Imbued with heartfelt revelations of their day-to-day realities, along with the political and economical nuances that surround them, the documentary sheds light on their ordinary struggles while navigating the extraordinary circumstances that define the world's most popular sport.
I have always been sensitive to ordinary people in ordinary circumstances - painting their daily human experiences with the hope of shining some light along the way, shares Rivas. When crafting this film, I would repeatedly remind my team that the story should be approached as if our subjects were carpenters, butchers, bank tellers or what-have-you; in that their professional skills would not be dictating their story. It was their common humanity we were unearthing, and their universal truths would surface through them first as people, and second as football players.
If the merit of the sports film were to be measured only by its capacity to forsake the many hackneyed stations of the genre, then Pascui Rivas' magisterial Ordinary Gods' would surely deserve its place in the pantheon, says Greg D. Cohen, Ph.D., Associate Programmer for Los Angeles Filmforum & UCLA Professor. It never shrinks from the supremely mundane, altogether human dimensions of the kids' struggles, which is perhaps the truest testament to its greatness.
Throughout Pascui's work, a thread of meticulous artistic precision is observed, driven further by the top cinematographers that he seeks including the legendary Fred Elmes (Blue Velvet) and Stefan Czpsky (Ed Wood). He credits various mentors for nurturing his innate ability to reveal the beauty in the ordinary, including distinguished TV Director David Semel in support of Pascui's venture into the world of episodic television. With an invariant curiosity for the undiscovered and unknown, Pascui continues to reach far and wide for impactful storytelling opportunities, and is looking forward to discovering where his successes in film will take him in the advertising world.
Credits:
Directed by: Pascui Rivas Produced by: David Brooks, Mario Melchiot, Tony Sella, Eric Shanks Written by: Pascui Rivas, Arbi Pedrossian Executive Producers: Arbi Pedrossian, Thomas Verrette, Steven Johnson Edited by: Pascui Rivas, Florencia P. Marano, Juan Pablo Cadaveira Starring: Oliver Burke, Gast n Guruceaga, Emanuel Mammana, Alhassane Sylla, Corentin Tolisso, Roman Zobnin
http://www.pascui.com
Director Pascui Rivas' World Premiere of Ordinary Gods at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, with MARTIN GORE (Depeche Mode Guitarist) and RICKY RESTREPO (Estados Alterados Drummer) in attendance
###
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
27/06/2026
There's no doubt that you've seen the world through Amy Vincent's ey...
27/06/2026
Brings together saturation & lo-fi effects
Following on from the release of their Voxcraft vocal-processing plug-in, UJAM have announced the launch of Retro...
27/06/2026
A record 4.84 million Australians choose SBS as the Socceroos advance at FIFA Wo...
27/06/2026
Why CRAS Upgraded to Symphony I/O MK II When an audio school runs studios all day, every day, gear doesn't just need to sound good , it needs to survive rea...
27/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/06/2026
Krotos Video to Sound Plugin Now Available for Adobe Premiere Pro
Brie Clayton June 26, 2026
0 Comments
Editors can analyze footage, generate synchron...
27/06/2026
Mirai Media Elevates Digital and Broadcast Productions with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton June 26, 2026
0 Comments
Studio uses Ultimatte 12 HD and Po...
27/06/2026
DURHAM, N.C. - JUNE 26, 2026 - Lutra Cafe & Bakery has opened its first brick-and-mortar location at American Tobacco Campus after owner Chris McLaurin operated...
26/06/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
26/06/2026
Strike Fighter League (SFL), a professional air combat digital sport combining f...
26/06/2026
Wisycom has announced three new additions to its professional wireless ecosystem...
26/06/2026
Eurovision Services inaugurated an expanded Master Control Room (MCR) in Madrid on June 1, 2026, building on a broadcast hub the company has operated in the cit...
26/06/2026
Midco Sports and the University of North Dakota (UND) have announced a two-year ...
26/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall, both part of the Panoptec Technologies Group, have appointed Vutec (Pty) Ltd as exclusive distributor for their KVM and ...
26/06/2026
Visit Seattle, the official destination marketing organization for Seattle and King County, has launched what it describes as the world's first drone scoreb...
26/06/2026
CP Communications provided RF video, audio, and crew communications support for ...
26/06/2026
Produced by longtime partner Echo Entertainment, the action-sports property is now a team-based year-round league
The inaugural season of the MoonPay X Games L...
26/06/2026
The deal establishes MultiDyne Robotics and Motion Control, maintaining the well-known MRMC brand.MultiDyne Video & Fiber Optic Systems has acquired the assets ...
26/06/2026
PX1 will debut at Sonoma as TNT leans into super-slo-mo, drones, SMT data integr...
26/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
26/06/2026
Virtual session musician plug-in gains new percussion options
Celemony's latest update for their virtual session musician platform complements the exist...
26/06/2026
Half-size model joins Console 1 line-up
Shortly after the release of their new Flow Studio controller, Softube have announced the launch of another new surf...
26/06/2026
ELT Group and Rohde & Schwarz sign a cooperation agreement to explore commercial...
26/06/2026
For Teddy Swims sold-out I've Tried Everything But Therapy tour, event technology specialists, PRG, provided video, automation and lighting across 19 date...
26/06/2026
Modern exhibition and event venues face the challenge of seamlessly integrating traditional conference technology, professional broadcast workflows and IP-based...
26/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/06/2026
Neko Oji: The Guy That Got Reincarnated as a Cat Edited with DaVinci Resolve Stu...
26/06/2026
Adobe to Acquire Topaz Labs
Brie Clayton June 25, 2026
0 Comments
Adobe has seen strong demand for its AI products for creatives, including Adobe Fire...
26/06/2026
Berklee Students Earn Dedicated Section at Raindance Film Festival in London Five documentary short films produced in the Africana Studies Department screen a...
26/06/2026
How IMS Productions and FOX Sports scaled coverage of the 109th Indianapolis 500.
The last lap of this year's Indianapolis 500 delivered the kind of ending...
26/06/2026
Flicker Productions to produce five-part docu-reality series following women who have fallen for men in prison and have become TikTok sensations, with brands an...
26/06/2026
Catch up on the latest developments across Baselight and Daylight v7, Nara and F...
26/06/2026
26. June 2026 News
DFT is pleased to announce that a second Polar HQ film s...
26/06/2026
New documentary Freedom Founder: Thomas McKean and the American Revolution airs ...
25/06/2026
Launching a Career in Broadcast Engineering: Academic Paths and Essential Certif...
25/06/2026
This superstar shooter/storyteller from Central Indiana hopes to make his mark in the blossoming sports-documentary and -features space
In the live-sports-vid...
25/06/2026
Presidio and the National Hockey League have announced a multiyear renewal of their North American partnership. Presidio will remain an Official Technology Inno...
25/06/2026
Strike Fighter League (SFL) is the world's first professional air combat digital sport that combines elite human performance and physical immersion with cut...
25/06/2026
Rise, the award-winning advocacy group for gender diversity in the broadcast and media technology sector, is pleased to announce the global mentoring cohort for...
25/06/2026
The 2026 American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) All-Star Game will...
25/06/2026
Mediaproxy has named Heartland Video Systems (HVS) as its exclusive partner for US television broadcasting. The Wisconsin-based systems integrator will represen...
25/06/2026
Backblaze has formed an agreement with CoreWeave to create The Essential Cloud for AI.
Under the multi-exabyte, $335 million agreement, Backblaze will provide...