FILM FILM
CHRISTIAN SESMA PAYDIRT WRITER/DIRECTOR interview JORGE PEREZCHICA
Christian Sesmas is a local writer/director/producer, and in his free time operates Guacs Pop Up, a food experience based on the family’s restaurant legacy of 30 years in Palm Springs. After writing stories and getting his first short film screened at the Palm Springs Short Fest in 2004, Sesma fell in love with the medium and turned it into a full-time career. In 2020, he released PAYDIRT, a crime heist feature starring Luke Goss and Val Kilmer. Shot throughout the Coachella Valley, the film is available to stream on Amazon and iTunes. Since then, the prolific director has completed two additional films and has more in the works. Coachella Magazine sat down with Sesma at a coffee shop to talk about his love for movies and a bold vision to bring more production to the Coachella Valley. CM: Hi Christian. Tell us more about your background and growing up in the Coachella Valley. CHRISTIAN SESMA: Born and raised here in Palm Springs. My parents were from Mexicali, I’m first generation. We had walk-in restaurant for 30 years. It was sold last year. Graduated from Palm Springs High, went to San Diego state, got my degree in anthropology. I had no idea I was going to be in the movie business at all. I was, writing stories, creative stories. And then in 2004, I made my first short film and it got into the Palm Springs Short Festival. And the rest is history, man. You know, I did a short film and found my love for making movies. I was always a big movie box movie nerd, and here we are. We’ve made 12 feature films now and we have a lot of huge things on the horizon, which is really exciting. My offices are in LA. I’m still based here in Palm Springs. My family lives here, where this is my home.
Top: Poster for PAYDIRT Bottom: Writer/Director/Producer Christian Sesma at Ernest Coffee in Palm Springs where he wrote many of his latest movies. Photo by Evan Doheny
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COACHELLA MAGAZINE
What can you tell us about your latest film PAYDIRT, without giving away any spoilers. It’s a really fun, cool crime heist, thriller, like Ocean’s 11 or Smokin’ Aces. It’s like a Soderbergh style of Out of Sight movie in a way. We have my buddy, Luke Goss, Val Kilmer, and you know, a bunch of guys coming together to do this kind of caper out in the middle of the desert. So it was a cool way for me to shoot in the city of Coachella. Coachella was home base and Salton Sea and Thermal. It’s like the stuff that never gets any love out there. You know what I mean? It’s like, everybody thinks of desert, they think right here at Palm Springs, and that’s my hometown, but I really wanted to showcase East Valley.
