Modus Operandi director Frankie Latina

Frankie Latina with Danny Trejo at the CineVegas premiere.

BONUS! Mark Metcalf and the Backstage staff usuallygrace your life just once a week, but on the first night of the Milwaukee Film Festival, we just can’t contain our excitement.

Here’s a quick interview Mark did with local filmmaker Frankie Latina, director of Modus Operandi, named one of the 25 new faces of independent film by Filmmaker Magazine.

“Sex, drugs, and violence,” he says about his opus, which was four years in the making. “It’s hard to reach a wider audience if you don’t follow those rules.”

Modus Operandi is perfectly poised to be a breakout smash — it premiered at CineVegas in June to critical acclaim — but Frankie is nonchalant. Mark and the auteur discuss the director’s methods and influences, what’s wrong with modern independent film, what’s next for Frankie and whether or not his life is about to change.

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Modus Operandi screens at the Milwaukee Film Festival September 25 at the Oriental Theatre on Milwaukee’s East side and October 4 at the Marcus North Shore Cinema in Mequon.

Be there! And listen to the other podcasts in our film-lovin’ series of Backstage, featuring interviews with filmmakers Tate Bunker, Andrew Swant, Ryan Plato and Carlo Besasie and Milwaukee Film Executive Director Jonathan Jackson.