At the age of 12, he even remembers writing Steven Spielberg and expressing his interest in becoming an actor.
“Amblin Entertainment replied a few months later telling me to get an agent. I didn’t know what an agent was, but I was ecstatic with the news.”
Though his dreams of becoming an actor faded over the years, Fonseca continued to immerse himself in film, watching movies as often as he could.
After moving to Cape Town, South Africa in his mid-twenties, Fonseca got a job as a runner for Monkey Films, where he continued to develop his love for telling stories.
“I watched lots of films and read all the books I could get my hands on,” he remembers.
Fonseca also gained more experience by working on film sets for big-budget films like Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and Diana, starring Naomi Watts.
In 2006, Fonseca started his own production company (Mahla Filmes), and later decided to go to New York City to attend New York Film Academy’s (NYFA) 8-Week Screenwriting program.
“I decided I needed to go to NYFA to get better knowledge of the craft,” he shares.
“I wanted to write the best script as I possibly could and, for this, I needed ‘one-on-one’ guidance from the best instructors.”
After years in the business, Mickey Fonseca has struck a deal that many producers dream of with his latest film Resgate (“Redemption” in English) being acquired by streaming giant Netflix.
Fonseca, who wrote, directed, and produced the film, shot on location in his home country of Mozambique.
