Torres named ‘Filmmaker of the Year’ in Phoenix Film Festival

 “The Ladder” was shot in Ketchikan and showcases many familiar local sights such as classic fishing vessels, Ketchikan Creek’s salmon ladder and local businesses. Community members were eager to help with the film and many portray characters in the film and are supporters.

A short synopsis of the film’s on the website theladderfilm.com, states, “In the twilight of his life, an aging Alaskan fisherman contemplates restarting his life with the help of a mysterious scientific procedure.”

A press release states that the film “is a sci-fi drama about aging, memory, and technology, set and produced authentically in Torres’ hometown of Ketchikan, Alaska. All three (Phoenix) festival screenings were at full capacity, with audience members praising the film’s emotional depth, unique setting, and deeply personal story.”

Local actor Keith Smith plays the part of Arthur, the main character.

Torres’ bio states that he “is an award-winning Puerto Rican-Mexican American filmmaker based in Phoenix, Arizona.” Emilio Miguel Torres grew up in Ketchikan with his parents Olivia and Miguel Torres.

He received a BFA in Film & Television Production from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2021 and has written, directed, and produced films and large scale media productions.

In a phone call with the Daily News on Friday, Torres talked about his experiences at the Phoenix festival as well as what’s next for “The Ladder.”

Torres said that he and his team held the world premiere of the film in Fargo, North Dakota, at the Fargo Film Festival on March 19 in the historic Fargo Theater, which next year will celebrate its 100th anniversary.

He said there were a few things that made that screening fun, as an organist performs during screenings, and actress Molly Ringwald also attended the festival.

That festival was memorable to Torres, he said, because “it was a new audience, people showed up, I went on the local news and talked about the movie, and I just think people really engaged with the movie and they liked it a lot and we had people from Ketchikan who were there.”

He said that Steven B. Olson, who was an advisor for the film crew on commercial fishing, and who lent his fishing vessel for use in the film, attended the Fargo screening. Also in attendance were former Ketchikan residents Loren Stanton, Clara Joy Stanton, and Torres’ mother and executive producer Olivia Torres. Loren Stanton is one of the film’s associate producers, as is former Ketchikan resident Terri Robbins. Clara Joy Stanton is an actress in the film and served as a set dresser.

The next stop for “The Ladder” was the OKCine Latino Film Festival in Oklahoma City.

At that festival, Torres said “we won Best First Feature Film and Best Editing.”

Next was the Phoenix Film Festival, he said.

That festival featured three screenings of “The Ladder” on April 4 through 6, Torres said.

“We had a premiere party, and it was awesome,” he said. “The Phoenix Film Festival is a pretty big deal and they had this reunion of ‘Platoon’ where (director) Oliver Stone came and they screened this movie called ‘Waltzing with Brando’ that stars Billy Zane, and him and the director were there, and they screened a lot of new films that are from A24 and other studios that haven’t been released in theaters yet.”

Torres said that “The Ladder” was showcased in the “U.S. Feature competition” category. He explained that there were eight narrative films and four documentaries accepted into that category from all over the country.

After each of the three screenings, he said that a Q&A session was held.

Torres described the premiere party at that event as “a Ketchikan reunion.”

Loren Stanton, Clara Joy Stanton, Terri Robbins, Olivia Torres, the crew gaffer Jackson Yeomans, Keith Smith, Shawna Nelson and Natalia Ferrara — all of whom have Ketchikan roots and were involved in making the film, attended the screenings and the premiere party, he noted.

All three screenings were “full house” events, Torres said. “People cheered when it ended, people told me that they cried and that they loved it. I feel like the most common compliment I got was people saying, ‘Oh, now that I’ve seen this, I really want to go to Ketchikan.’”

Torres said that another benefit of the Phoenix event was the opportunity for him and Smith to “rub shoulders with other filmmakers.”

The awards show was held on the final day of the festival, Torres said.

“I won the Arizona Filmmaker of the Year … and that was awesome,” he added.

He said he also was interviewed on television news stations, and he was given a trophy as part of his award.

“Since then, it’s been a lot of people reaching out who are excited about my career and now I’m gearing up, in a couple weeks, to go to Houston for the Houston International Film Festival, which has a lot of history and it’s the 58th year and we’re in competition there as well, so we’ll be up for some awards,” Torres said.

The Houston festival will be held on May 3, he noted.

He said that they are now waiting to hear back about their admission status for other festivals they’ve applied to.

His goal, he said, is to tour the film in locations all around the U.S. this year.

“It’s been really exciting, and I feel like the reception has been really positive,” Torres said.

“We’ve had interest from distributors, so there’s a lot of options for how this film will play out, it might a whirl where we do a theatrical run and then release it on streaming,” or they might happen at the same time, or it might be released only in Alaska — there are many options for the future of the film, he noted.

“This momentum will, at some point, have the movie on streaming, which will be exciting for people,” Torres said.

“What’s really cool about this snapshot, this time, is just the fact that the past three weeks, we’ve been to three different festivals, we’ve won awards, we’ve had a really positive reception, and this is just how our festivals are starting,” Torres said. “I’m looking ahead and it’s a different landscape when you’re like, ‘Oh, we have an award-winning film that we’re touring the festivals, let’s see if we get in.’”

Torres added that he’s aware that many people in Ketchikan are eager to see the movie, and he’s very “appreciative of everyone” who’s excited, as that means so much to him.

He explained that the industry has a time-consuming process that films must go through to get proven at the festivals before they are distributed.

“If people want to see it, they could be patient, but also these festivals are meant to be open to the public,” Torres said. “A lot of them are festivals you can travel to and kind of make a trip out of, so if people want to come to festivals, they can always do that.”

He said that the best way to track where “The Ladder” will be shown is to visit the website theladdermovie.com, where each upcoming screening is listed along with links to tickets.

Another way to track the movie’s progress is to visit the film’s page on Instagram @theladderfilm, on Facebook at The Ladder Feature Film, on X at theladderfilm, and it also can be found on imdb.com.

“The film is really resonating with people,” Torres said. “The press in Phoenix and other places are picking up on the story that I’m telling about how the community came together to make this movie and I think people are connecting with that and are being inspired by that.”

He added, “We’re making a splash. The reception has been really positive and I’m just really excited and we’ll see how things shake out.

“The most common compliment I get is just how much people say, ‘I fell in love with the town through the movie’ and they want to come to Ketchikan, they’re just so fascinated about it. That was kind of what was the original pitch of the film, which is really cool.”