Martin Duran:  

Greetings fellow Pius X Alum, I'm coming to terms with the fact that this year marks twenty years since high school graduation. Fortunately life after high school has been exciting. After Pius X, I went away to college at San Francisco State University and studied film. My time spent in northern California was eye-opening, liberating and lots of fun. After earning my B.A, I decided to spend the summer in Europe backpacking throughout England, Ireland, France, Switzerland and Italy. This journey would give me a new passion in life-traveling. This excursion would be the first of many globe trekking adventures in the years to come. Shortly after I returned home to Los Angeles. I began a fellowship with a group of filmmakers earning their Masters in production at USC. I served as the associate producer for for the first thesis film ever shot in High Definition. The film was titled Jacob's Gift. For years I continued working on several other short films and small projects. I also freelanced for a documentary group called Forever Studios. It was there where I would take up an interest in documentary filmmaking. Like many other aspiring filmmakers, I found myself feeling discouraged. Against my creative judgement, I decided to take a position with an Investment Firm in downtown Los Angeles. For close to a decade I worked in the Financial Services Industry as a securities licensed Registered Representative. Most days were challenging but this career did provide me lots of freedom...Expand for more