Spanish Professor Makes Feature Film Debut

Spanish Professor Makes Feature Film Debut

By Tim Meehan

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Up until recently, Darci Strother's acting career consisted entirely of playing the lead role of a hippopotamus in one play. This was in third grade.

So imagine her surprise when director Antonio Muñoz de Mesa approached Strother - a Spanish professor in CSUSM's modern language studies department - about playing a significant role in his international revenge action film, "Santa Zeta."

"He wanted someone who looked fairly innocuous, kind of like a soccer mom," said the 59-year-old Strother, who has taught at CSUSM since 1993. "He wanted someone to surprise the audience that looked like your everyday innocuous person who would actually be a villain."

The Spanish film wrapped in 2024 and recently made the film festival circuits, which included winning an Award of Excellence in the Feature Film category at the third annual Santa Barbara Indie Film Festival in September. The film made its U.S. debut at the festival.

CSUSM's Global Commitment Committee will screen it as its featured film March 9 in the USU. De Mesa has agreed to join the discussion for the screening either in person or via Zoom.

"Santa Zeta" was filmed in Spain and South Korea with Strother's scenes shot in San Marcos. Her scenes are listed as being filmed in Escondido because Escondido means "hidden" in Spanish, and it's a play on words for the many hidden meanings within the movie.

The film's synopsis (from IMDB): A super famous travel influencer, Santa Zeta, uses her social media as a cover to travel the world hunting pedophiles, obsessed with finding her little sister's killer.

Strother played the role of Amelia, a seemingly innocent woman with a sinister dark side.

"I caught the bug of embracing other new challenges," Strother said. "I think when you're asked to do something difficult, you're not sure if you can do it. And then you do it, and it turns out well. That gives you the confidence of 'Well, I wonder what's next.' "

Strother spoke on the panel after the screening in Santa Barbara, which was also attended by her family along with de Mesa, the production manager and other cast members. The film was the feature event Friday night for the weekend's festivities.

In addition to teaching and service, every CSUSM tenure-track faculty member must perform research and creative activity as part of their duties.

For Strother, that has consisted before 2024 of writing academic articles and books about 17th century Spanish theater. What the film experience did was give her a new perspective on viewing the creative process of cinema from a new vantage point.

She said she was thrilled to be on the panel for a Q&A session after the debut screening so the audience could see her true personality.

"I play a very unflattering character," she said. "I play a character who does something evil, despicable things. It was kind of exhilarating. I was able to step outside of myself and say, 'Oh wow, I really did that.' It's an accomplishment I achieved in life that lives there forever."

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De Mesa has 48 credits to his name on IMDB, including actor, director, producer, writer and editor.

He directed "Santa Zeta" and knew immediately he wanted Strother for the role despite her lack of acting experience.

They had connected many times in the past when Strother was performing research for her area of expertise.

"Although Darci didn't have experience as an actress working in films, I knew her for many years and was totally sure that she could perform this role with the help of an acting coach," said de Mesa, who was born in Madrid. "I needed an actress for the role of Amelia with a calm, intelligent energy. That's why I thought of Darci right away. Her sensibility and closeness to the acting community made it super easy to work with her in her sequence."

The request from De Mesa came at what can only be described as an inopportune time.

Strother had just begun caring for her daughter, who was recovering from what Strother described as a serious surgery.

In the same week, she was also asked to moderate the Global Commitment Committee's informal conversation with students leading up to the 2024 presidential election. She was acting as GCC's interim chair.

She also was asked to sub for a class of a subject she "really didn't know."

"All of these things that came together that made me actually feel weirdly relaxed because it felt like, OK life is throwing me all these curveballs and opportunities, and I'm not expecting of myself to do anything more than what I can do," Strother said. "I think if I had only done the film that week I would have just been obsessing and worrying about it. Because there were so many things going on, I was taking things one step at a time. I'm going to do it and everyone in the cast and crew made me feel really really relaxed."

CHABSS faculty are often looking for new avenues to create and innovate. To go beyond the classroom to share experiences that inspire and introduce career paths beyond a straight line.

Earlier this semester, Strother showed some still photographs from the film as well as pictures from the festival to her classes.

She presented the images from the perspective of doing big things when you're not expected to. Particularly when it comes to art, she wanted her students to understand it's never too late to take risks.

Even a faculty member with decades of experience in academia can become a screen actor.

"It was very unexpected, but I'm kind of at that point in my life where if someone asks me to do something and I don't think I can do it, I say, 'Sure, why not? I'll try it anyway,' " Strother said. "I might succeed, I might not succeed. I have the luxury of being at a point in my career where I can try new things and take risks."

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