MATEO: Interview with the Gringo Mariachi and Director Aaron I. Naar

Guest Bio

You don’t expect scrawny, strawberry blond Matthew Stoneman to blow you away with a falsetto love song, in perfect Spanish to boot. But that’s his hook and it might finally make him a star in this thoroughly fun chronicle of how “America’s first gringo mariachi singer” tries to shake his own gimmick and achieve true greatness. A thief with a heart and a voice of gold, he wound up in prison, where he learned Spanish and was bewitched by Cuban music. Now, the lovable crooner invests every honest nickel he earns playing L.A.’s streets into trips to Cuba. But what’s he really after—cheap access to amazing studio musicians, sun-filled fantasies or the comfort of its women? With a dizzyingly beautiful soundtrack of his songs as a backdrop, an unexpected side to Matthew’s artistic life slowly emerges in this irresistible ode to all the dreaming and hard work it takes to make it.

Aaron I. Naar is a filmmaker based in Los Angeles, CA. He is a Film Independent and IFP Documentary Lab alumnus and a recipient of the Pacific Pioneer Fund. He has participated in Independent Film Week, Film Independent Forum, and Points North Pitch.

Most recently, Naar’s documentary editorial work for ‘American Horror Stories: Extra-Ordinary Artists’ received an Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Short-Format Nonfiction Programming.

A graduate of Vassar College, Naar currently works as a Director and Editor at Editree, Inc. in Downtown, Los Angeles.