Meet Cliqua, the Mexican American director duo that caught the eye of Bad Bunny and the Weeknd 

Amid stacks of currency and liquor bottles, Tony Montana and Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán beryllium unneurotic wrong a painting. One fictional and the different real, the cause lords look nonchalant.

“That’s us!” says filmmaker Raúl “RJ” Sanchez with joyful mischief erstwhile I constituent retired the centerpiece connected the main partition of their bureau successful Downtown L.A. Sanchez’s spouse successful creator crime, Pasqual Gutiérrez, tells maine they got the framework adjacent astatine Santee Alley.

Located connected a thoroughfare country successful the Fashion District, their space, which doubles arsenic a antheral cave, reflects their originative influences, their ties to L.A. and their offbeat consciousness of humor. Before they moved successful 2021, the spot was a footwear store called Latino Fashion — the storefront motion remains.

Walk successful and you’ll find the bottommost fractional of a mannequin flaunting antheral genitalia (“That was our stunt penis from [the abbreviated film] ‘Shut Up and Fish,’” says Sanchez laughing). There’s besides a bulky metallic operation that resembles a torture device, a teal greenish sofa (which they got for nether $100), photography books and keepsakes connected shelves that erstwhile displayed footwear. It’s a mini depository to their past truthful far. Or, arsenic Sanchez calls it, it’s “a surviving brain.”

Known artistically arsenic Cliqua, the in-demand duo has already worked with immoderate of the euphony industry’s biggest names. Their resume includes directing videos for Bad Bunny (“La Difícil”), the Weeknd (“Save Your Tears”), J Balvin (“Reggaeton”) and Rosalía (“Yo x Ti, Tu x Mi”).

This year, Gutiérrez crossed implicit into diagnostic filmmaking with his docufiction debut “Serious People,” a profoundly idiosyncratic “cringe comedy” that helium co-directed with longtime person Ben Mullinkosson. Following its premiere astatine the Sundance Film Festival, the movie had a theatrical merchandise successful November and is present disposable to watercourse connected aggregate VOD platforms.

On screen, Gutiérrez and Sanchez play versions of themselves: euphony video directors successful an manufacture that takes itself excessively seriously. While expecting his archetypal kid with spouse Christine Yuan, besides a filmmaker, Gutiérrez recovered himself caught betwixt his committedness to his concern with Sanchez and his work arsenic a soon-to-be father. The Gutiérrez successful “Serious People” hires a doppelganger to regenerate him successful his nonrecreational commitments.

“There were immoderate things coming our mode wherever if some Raúl and I weren’t disposable to bash it, they would spell away. Clients would beryllium uninterested if it wasn’t the Cliqua brand,” Gutiérrez says. “That was profoundly frustrating and haunting for maine due to the fact that it was like, ‘Raúl isn’t choosing to person a baby, but I am. And this is affecting us, due to the fact that helium can’t bash everything connected his ain due to the fact that radical aren’t letting him bash it.’”

Though some Gutiérrez and Sanchez acceptable nether the generic individuality umbrella of “Mexican American,” each of them knowingly embodies a chiseled “flavor of Mexican.”

“I decidedly place with Chicano a lot,” says Gutiérrez. “I americium second-generation and increasing up I knew astir lowriders and East L.A. barrio s—.” Raised betwixt East Los Angeles and Pomona, Gutiérrez believes his Latino individuality is unsocial to L.A.

Sanchez, connected the different hand, is the kid of immigrants from Mexico City and Jalisco. As a first-generation kid successful the South Bay metropolis of Gardena, his worldview was shaped differently.

“We’ve ever had that split. You correspond much what it is to beryllium successful this state for much generations, and I consciousness similar I’m new. The civilization I subordinate with much is Mexican but much rancho s—,” Sanchez explains. A vivid representation for Sanchez is his gramps slaughtering a pig and driving astir South Central connected his pickup motortruck selling it. “The Chicano practice wasn’t a happening for me, it was much the migrant experience,” helium says.

“I grew up speaking much Spanglish,” says Gutiérrez. “But Spanish was Raúl’s archetypal language.”

Their creator confederation is an amalgamation of what each brings to their friendship. Sanchez got Gutiérrez into Los Tigres del Norte and corridos, portion Gutiérrez introduced him to Lil Rob’s “Summer Nights” and the 1993 movie “Blood In Blood Out,” which Gutiérrez considers a foundational taste artifact successful his life.

“Both of america person crossed towards the other’s broadside a small more,” says Sanchez. The 2 met done their then-girlfriends (now their wives and mothers of their respective children) astir a decennary ago. At that constituent they each were already directing euphony videos.

“We truly bonded implicit that shared acquisition of, ‘What’s it similar trying to navigate this manufacture arsenic a Latino?’” adds Sanchez.

For Gutiérrez, 1 of 5 siblings, his involvement successful filmmaking is linked to 1 of his older brothers who had a spot of a treble life. “He was a pack member, but helium was besides a low-key cinephile,” helium says. “He utilized to enactment successful creation location theaters, and we utilized to conscionable ticker weird worldly for a small kid to watch. A batch of ‘Blood In Blood Out,’ but besides worldly similar ‘Amélie.’”

With his father’s support, Gutiérrez attended Chapman University to survey movie production.

“My pops said, ‘Growing up nary 1 ever asked maine what I wanted to do. That wasn’t adjacent an enactment for me,’” Gutiérrez recalls. “‘And the information that you got accepted to this school, we’ll conscionable find a way. We’ll instrumentality each the loans out. Go effort and spot however it is.’ My begetter empowered maine to travel my dreams for sure.”

Sanchez had a little linear way into filmmaking. He graduated from UC Berkley with a grade successful past past with the intent of going to instrumentality school. Instead, helium returned to L.A. to effort his manus astatine film, an involvement that evolved from his enjoyment of video games increasing up and movie studies courses successful college.

But however does 1 interruption into making euphony videos?

“In the beginning, a batch of times you’re shooting videos for your friends,” says Gutiérrez. “If you are originative successful L.A., you cognize different creatives and 1 of them is simply a euphony creator oregon 1 of them is simply a rapper oregon successful a stone band. And you commencement that way.”

“My sister was dating a rapper, truthful I was shooting his videos,” adds Sanchez.

Still, they some aspired to marque diagnostic films.

“Even erstwhile we were astatine the beginnings of Cliqua, the connection we person ever utilized to adjacent speech astir euphony videos has ever been film-centric,” says Sanchez. “Those are the influences. We talk successful movies.”

After gathering and hanging retired for a while, Gutiérrez and Sanchez were anxious to enactment together. That accidental came with the video for J Balvin’s “Reggaeton,” which they had to motion connected to bash without being capable to bash overmuch preparation. In the aftermath of that affirmative experience, they decided to make Cliqua, which primitively besides included euphony creator Milkman (MLKMN).

The sanction comes from the publication “Varrio” by Gusmano Cesaretti, an Italian lensman who documented East L.A. civilization successful the 1970s, including the Klique Car Club.

The video for J Balvin kick-started their careers. They soon recovered themselves a niche arsenic reggaeton became globally fashionable and a caller harvest of artists revitalized its aesthetic. But adjacent arsenic they yet crossed implicit to different corners of the manufacture and landed accordant enactment with the Weeknd, they were alert of the limits to their originative freedom.

“Music videos are comic due to the fact that they’re evidently not genuinely our enactment either; we’re astatine the work of different artist,” explains Sanchez. “We’re executing idiosyncratic else’s imaginativeness adjacent if the little is mostly open. It’s not genuinely us, but we’re successful there.”

“Music videos are hard, man,” adds Gutiérrez. “The hard happening astir euphony videos that’s antithetic from diagnostic filmmaking is that it’s truthful fast. You get a concept, and you possibly person 2 days to travel up with an thought and constitute a attraction for it. Then from there, you person a sprout date, but the sprout day tin get pushed and it tin get pulled depending connected the artist.”

In 2023, Gutiérrez and Sanchez released their archetypal communicative abbreviated film, “Shut Up and Fish,” astir 4 “Edgars” (young Latino men with vessel cuts) connected a boat. Their impetus was to subvert the expectations of stories involving characters from their community.

“We wanted to marque it consciousness similar an [Ingmar] Bergman film, due to the fact that we’d ne'er seen that, particularly with these kids,” says Gutiérrez. One of the actors they formed successful the short, Miguel Huerta, plays Gutiérrez’s chaotic doppelganger successful “Serious People.”

For “Serious People,” Gutiérrez and Mullinkosson invoked arthouse references, specified arsenic the vignettes successful the films of Swedish auteur Roy Andersson, oregon the surveillance consciousness of Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest.” Gutiérrez makes a constituent of mentioning these inspirations successful Q&As and interviews successful hopes of igniting the curiosity of those watching “Serious People.”

“Making [that culture] accessible has ever been a goal, whether that’s conscious oregon unconscious,” says Gutiérrez.

It was an anxiety-induced imagination that archetypal inspired Gutiérrez to constitute “Serious People” to satirize the amusement industry. In the dream, Gutiérrez went connected Craigslist to prosecute a look-alike successful bid to equilibrium his idiosyncratic and nonrecreational commitments. As soon arsenic helium woke up, helium told his imagination successful item to Yuan, who suggested helium crook it into a film.

Gutiérrez brought Mullinkosson connected committee fixed his inheritance successful documentary, and due to the fact that helium thought co-directing it with Sanchez mightiness marque it excessively meta for comfort.

“This manufacture is truthful competitory and truthful demanding that each azygous manager has a fearfulness that if you accidental nary to a azygous project, you’re ne'er going to get deed up again,” says Mullinkosson connected Zoom from Chengdu, China, wherever helium lives. “At the extremity of the day, we’re conscionable making movies — like, this isn’t that serious.”

Sanchez hesitated astatine archetypal astir the thought of being connected camera, but his loyalty to Gutiérrez proved stronger than the reservations. “I really got a footwear retired of seeing myself connected screen,” Sanchez says. “When you spot yourself projected that big, you commencement to recognize what you consciousness similar to different radical successful the world, which was a precise absorbing out-of-body experience.”

“Vulnerabilities are what marque movies special, particularly this 1 due to the fact that Pasqual, Raúl and Christine opened their existent lives to being connected camera, and it’s precise personal,” says Mullinkosson. “When you tin beryllium arsenic brave arsenic them to stock your existent life, thing beauteous happens.”

Gutiérrez and Sanchez, who besides became a begetter soon aft our interview, are presently processing a caller diagnostic film, “Golden Boy,” which they picture arsenic a “Stand by Me”-type of communicative astir 4 Edgars. One of them thinks erstwhile boxer Oscar De La Hoya is his long-lost father. They spell connected a travel crossed California to face De La Hoya.

“Music is wherever we started, but the extremity has ever been to bash long-form, to bash features,” says Gutiérrez. “And present with ‘Serious People,’ 1 is retired there.”