User:Rocktabaco/sandbox

Benjamin Lopez (aka Benji Lopez) was born June 16, 1974 in East Chicago, Indiana where he spent his first five years and then moved to Puerto Rico with his mother and brother. Benjamin grew up in his father's hometown of Comerío where he graduated from high school in 1992. He is an award-winning filmmaker equipped with a generous portfolio of feature films, television commercials, and music videos.

Benjamin is most acclaimed for being the first director in Puerto Rico to exhibit a feature film in a wide theatrical release shot in high definition. Benjamin is a comprehensively talented director with 7 feature films under his credits. His films now can be seen in popular streaming services like Hulu, Amazon Prime. Flixlatino and also on TV Networks like Cinelatino and Viendomovies. His directorial debut was the adventure-drama Tainos (2005) which is a social and historical exploration of the lost Indian tribe that contributed significantly to the cultural foundation of Puerto Rico. After "Tainos" Benjamin made a creative transition to comedy with the ensemble Puerto Rican hit Mi verano con Amanda (2008) Mi verano con Amanda 2 (2011) and Mi verano con Amanda 3 (2013) which also premiered theatrically in Puerto Rico creating the first comedy franchise on the island with three successful films. In 2013 he premiered his 4th film titled ¿Quién paga la cuenta? (2013) which he wrote and directed. "¿Quién paga la cuenta?" is drama / comedy set in Central America that quickly entered into the top 10 highest grossing local films in that region that year and is still the highest grossing local film in Honduras.

In 1992, Benjamin began his university studies at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Communications with a concentration on media production. While continuing his studies, he gained practical experience as an audiovisual technician at the production company Stage Crew, Inc. for 2 years. In 2004 Benjamin launched the Puerto Rican based production company Innova Entertainment, Inc. with his business partner Eduardo Correa. Innova focuses on innovative and quality driven film, television, and new media productions. Since then Benjamin has been working as a freelance director, screenwriter and videographer, directing works such as the documentary "Historias de Mi Pais, Honduras para el Mundo" (2015) "HOY" (music video for the Grammy Winner rock band "Black Guayaba"), among other diverse productions.

He recently wrote and directed "Trapos Sucios" the Central American remake of the popular comedy film from Panama "Chance" (2009) which will be the firs co-production between Honduras and El Salvador to be released in 2019. And his most recent film is named Amor en 266 millas a romantic comedy filmed in Puerto Rico, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The film is set out to be released in 2019.