Marked

Ya'Ke made his first film at the age of 15, while a student at Sam Houston High School in his native San Antonio, Texas and has yet to look back. His films have received world-wide acclaim, screening at The Cannes International Film Festival, The Pan African Film and Arts festival, The Sedicorto International Film Festival Forli and The Los Angeles Shorts Film Festival, to name a few. Ya'Ke has made a name for himself as a filmmaker with a veracious style of storytelling that takes an unflinching look at issues facing today's society. I had the opportunity to work with him a few years ago in his featured film "Wolf", a small but significant role.

San Antonio named Carmen Tafolla its inaugural poet laureate. To celebrate her original works, the Department for Culture and Creative Development (DCCD) with Three Chord Media has produced a series of seven short films based on Tafolla’s poems. Exodus Films with director Ya'ke Smith and producer Ralph Lopez were selected to produce one of the poems, and I was chosen to narrate it. Such an honor to give voice to such wonderful words.

MARKED is a film inspired by the poem of the same name written by renowned poet Carmen Tafolla. Read by Carla Veliz, the film is a collage of the faces of hispanic women making their "mark" on society. The film features Amanda D. Flores, Lorraine Pulido, Dora Pena, Rachel Reyna, Marta Prada Pelaez, Mary Agnes Rodriguez, Nina Duran, Tina Torres, Laura Saldivar Luna and Lauren Montemayor. Directed by Ya’Ke Smith Produced by Ralph Lopez Director of Photography Yuta Yamaguchi Editor Rod Guajardo Sound Design Ryan Britton Makeup Artist Shawn Demetria Stills Photographer Don Hopkins Production Assistant Alexander Lehman Music: “Reaching Out” by Steven Gutheinz Special Thanks: Arts + Labor Sprocket Productions Produced with Support from: Three Cord Media City of San Antonio, Dept. for Culture & Creative Development