Biography:
Elma Garcia burst onto the commercial filmmaking scene ten years ago with a creative energy and unerring instinct that has captured major attention in the television advertising industry. Four years ago, she launched her own production company and today is a leader in the world of television commercials.

"The moment I completed shooting my first live action spot, I closed down my photography studio," she says. Garcia walked away from a successful print career to pursue directing. The commercial that changed her life was produced for Southwestern Bell Telephone. "It ended up being a Cinderella job," she says. "The glass slipper fit!"

Garcia worked with MJZ in Hollywood for five years, then went on to another production company. But her talent and creativity were catapulting her forward and she needed to be captain of her own ship. Nearly five years ago, she found the catalyst in partnering with Randall Kahn who would become her executive producer. Together they became Elma Garcia Films.

Garcia has already won multiple awards for her uncanny ability to capture the essence of the human experience. The Emmy, the Addy, the Mobius awards plus multiple nominations for Clios have validated a career in which every day and every shoot is, according to Garcia, "a life altering experience." Clients who have discovered her work are returning again and again for her boutique type of filmmaking. Her treatment of life, whether tongue-in-cheek humor, real-world drama, or raw emotion is characterized by an authenticity well respected throughout the industry. Each commercial is a touchstone.

The emotional imagery that Garcia creates for viewers while celebrating the very life force of the human condition is unique. Her "Jack Lives Here" campaign for Jack Daniels takes you from the crowded city streets of Manhattan to the Alaskan wilderness, making you want to lift a glass in both environments. In her film for Make-a-Wish Foundation, she pulls you into a day at the beach with a loving family and their dog. As they laugh and play, you are transported. You can feel the warmth of the sun and the sand between your toes. And then the little boy says this was his favorite day, "the day we all got to forget I was sick." Suddenly you are caught, heart in your throat, and brought back to stark reality. This artist and filmmaker accomplishes all that in sixty seconds. And she does it again and again.

She makes us laugh in a Northwest Airlines commercial that stars a man we never see. We listen to his pleading, "Please let her plane be late, please let her plane be late," and watch through his eyes as he runs through the airport, to an empty gate. He’s missed it! Pause...then the frantic running again, through the airport, down the escalator, the pleading, "Please let the flower shop be open, please let the flower shop be open!"

Garcia is most proud of the films in which she can fully demonstrate the celebration of life. "I loved working on the 501 Levis commercial with Jack Owens who was, at the time, the oldest living blues musician. The shoot took place in Mississippi and it was a privilege to work with him." Watching that commercial, it is easy to see she is a director who doesn’t get in the way of a life experience, but rather explores it, then frees it just to capture it again and share the moment.

Her work has taken her to London and Rome, to Japan and Thailand, to New Zealand and Argentina, as well as to all fifty states. One of her favorite films, a "Celebration of Life," produced for Coca Cola, was shown during the Academy Awards. Elma Garcia is able to capture every nuance in the voice and face and demeanor of the people she uses to tell her story. You want to be there, to see real people, to share their story.

Garcia’s creative path has taken her work, in the past eighteen months, from a visual theme into storytelling dialogue, as can be seen in her more recent Northwest Airlines and Wendy’s commercials. "As a storyteller, you want to keep growing, to take creative risks, to stretch professionally. Art doesn’t stop. As a filmmaker, you want to be able to expand upon all the different senses, to explore each character’s nuances. During the past ten years in this profession, I’ve gathered poignant life experiences from the accumulation of people I’ve met and colorful places I’ve been and am now creating characters and scenarios from that collection."

Her new direction allows Garcia to add another layer, using characters and their dialogue, to her artist’s moving canvas. Still believable, still authentic, her work continues to offer you an intimate connection as you relate to her creative "in the moment" life experiences.

Member Directors Guild of America.

Recent Clients:
American Express Corporate Card - Ogilvy & Mather
AT&T - Foote Cone & Belding
Audi of America, Inc. - McKinney & Silver
Bank One - The Gardner-Nelson Project
Bristol-Myers Squibb - Sawyer, Miller & Company
Brown-Forman - Carmichael Lynch
Chevrolet Trucks - Campbell Ewald Advertising
Coca Cola - Creative Artists Agency
Deloitte & Touche - Keiler & Company
Ford Motors, Inc. - J. Walter Thompson
Georgia Pacific - BBDO South
Isuzu - Goodby Silverstein & Partners
Jack Daniels - Simmons Durham Advertising
Levi’s 501 - Foote Cone & Belding
Marriott Hotels - McCann Erickson
McDonnell-Douglas - McCann Erickson
M.C.I. - Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Shmetterer
Microsoft - Bozell Esqew
Nike - Wieden & Kennedy
Northwest Airlines - Carmichael Lynch
Porsche - Goodby Silverstein & Partners
Southwestern Bell Telephone - DMB&B
TCI - Jordan, McGrath, Case & Taylor
Umbro - Goodby Silverstein & Partners
United States Post Service - Foote Cone & Belding
U.S. Sprint - J. Walter Thompson
U.S. Army - Young & Rubicam NY
Visa Canada - Leo Burnett
Volvo - Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer
Wendy’s - Bates US

Awards:
Emmy Award, Clio Nomination, Addy, Mobius