Ángel Manuel Soto

Ángel Manuel Soto (born January 28, 1983) is a Puerto Rican filmmaker. He is best known for directing Charm City Kings (2020) and the DC Studios film Blue Beetle (2023).

Ángel Manuel Soto
Born (1983-01-28) January 28, 1983
Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico
NationalityPuerto Rican
Alma materUniversidad del Sagrado Corazón[1]
Occupations
  • Film director
  • film producer
  • screenwriter
Years active2009–present

Early life

Ángel Manuel Soto was born in Santurce, a neighborhood in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His parents were a car salesman and a flight attendant. During his youth, Soto was involved in soccer, boxing, and music, thus forming the band Los Cheveres, a punk rock group formed in the early 2000’s, on to which inspired some of his later projects. As he grew up, he studied architecture, documentary filmmaking, and writing. Soto began his career as a TV producer and later worked on Art Direction at a local advertising agency.[2]

Career

Before working on his first short film, Soto worked at Standard Style Boutique in Kansas City. During that time, he rented all the rooms in his house and slept on the floor for 2 months in order to save money. In 2009, Soto released the short film 22weeks, which ended up winning multiple awards, including the Bronze Telly Award in 2010. After that, he has released a variety of short films, documentary shorts, and feature films, including La Granja and El Púgil. Both of these films were nominated to various film awards at film festivals, including the Chicago Latino Film Festival, the Miami Film Festival, and the Tribeca Film Festival.

In 2018, it was announced that Soto would direct Charm City Kings, a film based on the 2013 documentary 12 O'Clock Boys.[3] The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2020, where it ended up winning special jury prize for its ensemble.[4][5] The film was scheduled to be released on April 10, 2020, by Sony Pictures Classics,[6] but was rescheduled to August 14, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7] In May 2020, it was announced HBO Max had acquired distribution rights to the film.[8] It was released on October 8, 2020.[9]

In February 2021, Soto was announced as the director of the film about the Blue Beetle for DC Films and Warner Bros. The superhero's alter-ego is a Mexican-American teenager called Jaime Reyes, which would make it the first DC film and the first live-action film to feature a Latino superhero as the lead. The film was written by Mexican-born writer Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer.[2] In March 2021, it was announced that Soto would also direct an upcoming Transformers film, along with screenwriter Marco Ramirez.[10][11]

Filmography

Short film

Year Title Director Producer Writer Editor DoP Notes
2009 22weeks Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
2010 Sexy Mortal Yes Yes Yes Yes
2011 En la Privacidad de mi Hogar Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
2012 El Gallo Yes Yes Yes
2016 The Second Line:
A Parade Against Violence		 Yes
Repensando a Cuba Yes
Inside Trump's America Yes Video
I Struggle Where You Vacation Yes
El Púgil Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Documentary
Bashir's Dream Yes Yes
2018 Dinner Party Yes Yes

Feature film

Year Title Director Producer Writer
2007 Frailty Yes
2015 La Granja (a.k.a. The Farm) Yes Yes Yes
2020 Charm City Kings Yes
2023 Blue Beetle Yes

TV

Year Title Director Producer Writer Notes
2022 Menudo: Forever Young Yes 4-episode miniseries

References
  2. González, Umberto (February 23, 2021). "'Blue Beetle': Angel Manuel Soto to Direct Film About DC Comics' Latino Superhero (Exclusive)". TheWrap.
  3. N'Duka, Amanda (September 24, 2018). "Teyonah Parris, Jahi Winston To Star In '12 O'Clock Boys'; Angel Manuel Soto Directing Film From Sony & Overbrook". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  4. "Angel Manuel Soto to direct 'Blue Beetle,' DC Films' first Latino superhero movie". NBC News. February 24, 2021.
  5. Siegel, Tatiana (December 4, 2019). "Sundance Unveils Female-Powered Lineup Featuring Taylor Swift, Gloria Steinem, Abortion Road Trip Drama". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  6. Galuppo, Mia (December 17, 2019). "Sundance: Sony Pictures Classics to Release 'Charm City Kings'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  7. Exhibitor Relations Co. [@ERCboxoffice] (March 17, 2020). "Warm summer nights. Just around the corner. Sony Classics is on the positive tip, dating THE CLIMB (July 17) and CHARM CITY KINGS (Aug 14)" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 19, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2023 – via Twitter.
  8. Kit, Borys (May 5, 2020). "HBO Max Picks Up Sundance Winner 'Charm City Kings' From Sony Pictures Classics (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  9. "Charm City Kings". HBO Max. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  10. Kit, Borys (March 26, 2021). "New 'Transformers' Movie in the Works From 'Charm City Kings' Filmmaker Angel Manuel Soto (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter.
  11. White, James (March 28, 2021). "Angel Manuel Soto And Marco Ramirez Working On A New Transformers Movie". Empire.
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