Denver Mendiola was born in Manila Philippines on November 10th, to Carmelita and Reynaldo Mendiola during the time of the maelstrom of Marcos-era politics. Her mother was an activist and leader of the local church and passionately involved with her country. Her father Reynaldo was a simple artist who ran a successful sign business until he was swept up by the criminal elements from national orders. Her parents had married at the age of 15 and Denver was the youngest of seven children. Denver was always top of her class and inherited her fathers love of art and her mothers conviction. They lived in a little village by the water until chaos consumed their lives. Her father became more involved with the underworld crimes and suddenly became more violent with her mother. Therefore domestic abuse became an every day issue that lead to the brutal murder of her mother. She was gunned down in the middle of the night in front of 10 year old Denver who watched her mother whom she admired and loved so much choke and die in her own blood. Most of her writing and poetry is the center of her mother's universe.
Luckily Denver already had an established older sister living in the United States who was married to a respected Navy Officer. Her older sister was so afraid for her little brothers and Denver's safety that she begged the US Government to have them picked up right away. Months later Denver and her 2 older brothers were suddenly living in Norfolk Virginia. Her older sister, who was only 24, had to adopt them while she was pregnant. Her older sister during that time was deep in the Mormon religion. She taught her all the values and made her go to church seminary every morning before school. Culture shocked and not knowing a word of English, Denver still succeeded in school but dropped out because she couldn't stand the guilt she felt for her sister was struggling trying to take care of everyone. So Denver just ran away one day not knowing where to go and ended up in Berkley and San Francisco where she was able to attend all different types of art and history classes. She met a friend who was on her way to Hawaii and Denver ended up going and living with her from island to island. They all packed up one day and headed to backpack and hiked all over Australia, Asia, and New Zealand. Then Denver decided to move to LA instead of San Francisco. Through out her late twenties Denver struggled with a loss of identity due to the constant painful feeling of her mother. She tried opening a photography studio multiple times and failed. She figured out that art is impossible without help. So she took the California Brokers exam and passed. She worked for Remax for years then decided to open her own firm Greenbelt Properties and succeeded selling multimillion dollar homes and commercial real estate. She became a top probate Broker and worked for lawyers and government officials. She also had an opportunity to take the bar exam due to the many probate hearings she attended and her extensive knowledge of the law. The market unfortunately crashed while studying for the exam. Denver had no choice but work for the banks. Her job was to kick people out of their homes for not being able to pay on time. She was very successful at it but went in deep depression and almost lost herself and life because of it. She threw the book at the banks and never sold a house for them again.
She moved to Long Beach and there she met people who we're able to help her live up to her dreams of film making and music. At first she started writing poetry. She turned in one of her poems called "Flames" to singer Bartholomew which inspired Denver to write more and more. She then mixed her love with photography, poetry, and music that finally led her to film making. She wrote a poem called "Life Slow Down" A poem about appreciating the real beauty in life. She had Bartholomew turn in into a song. Denver decided to learn all the editing and post production on her own. She was able to learn RED Cinema X Pro, Final Cut, and all the digital aspects of film. Months later she edited project "Life Slow Down" and into a short film called "Lost in Paradise," about the story of Adam and Eve by one of Denver's favorite poet, John Milton. Her next move was to write her own screenplay to make another film but it was much more challenging than she thought. She luckily stumbled upon a short script called "Storage" and bought it right away due to the familiar nature of the film. Denver then filmed more shorts but "Storage" is her most favorite and personal film. She approached Interval House, one of our nation's top leading crisis center for Domestic Violence. At first Denver became hesitant to show them the film due to the graphic scenes. She waited nervously in vein and Sharon Wie, Director of Programs for Interval House finally responded saying, "Denver, This film is absolutely wonderful I would LOVE to talk with you more about tomorrow if you have a few minutes!" Denver went to bed that night crying tears of happiness and was able to sleep soundly for the very first time in her life. Interval House was her most important audience.
Denver now understands herself and the importance of early childhood development and expression. She decided to give all the films rights to Interval House and other crisis centers in the honor of her late mother, Carmelita Mendiola.
These days Denver is much more relaxed, positive, and focused. She refuses to let her broken past chain her but instead use it to become the kind of filmmaker she always wanted to be.
