https://samaycajas.com/will-you-listen-latinx-voices-of-tkaronto daily 0.75 2017-05-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1490755237400-MDBF8B875VM93QRYKPF1/Screen+Shot+2017-03-28+at+10.40.21+PM.png Will You Listen? - Will You Remember?: Latinx Voices of Tkaronto TRAILER 5 people. 5 stories https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1490755237400-MDBF8B875VM93QRYKPF1/Screen+Shot+2017-03-28+at+10.40.21+PM.png Will You Listen? - Will You Remember?: Latinx Voices of Tkaronto TRAILER 5 people. 5 stories https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58db00b19f7456695797383f/58db142bebbd1a38a54fd35b/5924839c15d5db55039d1efc/1495565683343/ Will You Listen? - Will You Remember?: Latinx Stories of Tkaronto https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58db00b19f7456695797383f/58db142bebbd1a38a54fd35b/58db1e52363d3c7352fabdc6/1490752586788/ Will You Listen? https://samaycajas.com/work daily 0.75 2019-01-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1490752223963-JT23Y85641MAF3ZSL61N/Screen+Shot+2015-12-03+at+10.44.52+AM.png Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1518233828389-9NX59N4WNNF2PGNVUG8J/13064599_830335593764883_6835588152222535292_o.jpg Work https://samaycajas.com/team-work daily 1.0 2023-12-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1644374086597-5KF047XYJ3OHYMOFA5IV/DreamsUntold_FBHeader.png Team Work — https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1666810040964-IPKMIAOPDDEE0GOHE43H/SPBloodMixes-photobyDahliaKatz-4783.jpg Team Work — Cast Oliver Dennis - George Sheldon Elter - Floyd Craig Lauzon - Mooch Valerie Planche - June Tara Sky - Christine James Dallas Smith - Musician Creative Team Jani Lauzon - Director Ken MacKenzie - Set Designer Samantha McCue - Costume Designer Arun Srinivasan - Lighting Designer James Dallas Smith - Sound Designer Samay Arcentales Cajas - Video & Projection Designer Richard Comeau - Fight Director Emerson Kafarowski - Assistant Lighting Designer Kai Masaoka - Assistant Sound Designer Cole Vincent - Stage Manager Seren Brooke Lannon - Assistant Stage Manager Pauline Shirt - Spiritual Educator https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1644370182925-8NC60YURUK4I2UFQOSGW/QueerIntimaciesMusicVid.00_05_11_15.Still001.jpg Team Work — I collaborated with F.A.M. and Ryan Dennison on a vignette around “Queer Intimacies”, capturing photos and videos, which culminated in the production of a music video and performance presentation. Performance video design by me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1644372407773-3E37T9V4L5VKZL4ML5E6/MaudryStill01.png Team Work — https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1644378663603-NIYFT1TGZW1LHDWBEDHR/NigelHands.png Team Work — - Content shot and edited by me of finger-tutting by Nigel Edwards https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1681091150545-X65A7NKD6T3T8MOH1AD6/Nugent_Episode3_img004.jpg Team Work — - episode 3: tik tok on the clock episode 2: werk by Kim Ninkuru. Charles Street Video. Wildseed Centre for Art and Activism - Toronto, ON. 2023 Photo Credit: Jahmal Nugent https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1703977572603-X8CNKHDN9U6J4T2WU33Z/Copy+of+Copy+of+Copy+of+DSN_9216.jpg Team Work — Producer, Creator, Rigging Design, Performance Artist: Diana Lopez Soto Dramaturgy and Rehearsal Director: Rebecca Carney Composer: Edgardo Moreno Pirekua Composer: Eandi Cuiriz Ramos Projection Designer: Samay Arcentales Cajas Lighting Designer: Arun Srinivasan Costume Designer: Adriana Fulop Set Designer: Andy Moro Knowledge Keeper: Leonardo Martin Vargas Carrion First NOMADA Script: Alejandro Ronceria Rigging Specialists: Rebecca Leonard, Israel Barrera Hernandez Stage Manager: Taylor Young https://samaycajas.com/blog-lange daily 0.75 2025-03-29 https://samaycajas.com/blog-lange/2025/3/28/ready-set-go monthly 0.5 2025-03-29 https://samaycajas.com/blog-lange/2024/12/11/aabaakwad-2024 monthly 0.5 2024-12-11 https://samaycajas.com/blog-lange/2024/9/4/not-thinking-art monthly 0.5 2024-09-10 https://samaycajas.com/blog-lange/2024/7/17/its-june-15-2024 monthly 0.5 2024-08-28 https://samaycajas.com/blog-lange/2024/4/4/iso-life-answers monthly 0.5 2024-04-04 https://samaycajas.com/blog-lange/2024/2/25/emotional-baggage monthly 0.5 2024-02-25 https://samaycajas.com/blog-lange/2023/8/7/i-am-mindalae-after-all monthly 0.5 2023-08-07 https://samaycajas.com/blog-lange/2022/11/17/ph7s4vd9lspfmk1qab8mzo2x5get9r monthly 0.5 2023-03-10 https://samaycajas.com/blog-lange/2022/adecision monthly 0.5 2022-08-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/5bb6e72d-f676-4b62-8d94-d845b7144a14/IMG_5708.jpg Samay Writes - A Decision - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://samaycajas.com/personal-lange daily 0.75 2025-05-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1518232297736-EXCAXJO8C7PE68PZWGPL/IMG_5524.JPG Personal https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1518232567009-FV2XWPF0DNFYVG3JB2KX/WULsamay-2.jpg Personal https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1518232883430-5BYQ9GXCMSF34EDG1LIS/rimanakuna3.png Personal https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1518233057680-NCMKGX7MFE367TUYD0I9/InMoment1.jpg Personal https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1644376391920-TWWDI812NPQSD61FNBCH/Screen+Shot+2021-09-13+at+4.57.16+PM.PNG Personal https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1644377737019-E52RKOT9PJG9QQBAX197/Paypura_Title.png Personal https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1666832406262-QIYC9KBXU269V73UO9GC/highup.gif Personal https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1622171644942-DN2RNSL9AAUY8Q9WZ6FC/MindalaesInQuarantine_Still01.png Personal - still from Mindalaes in Quarantine. Director of Photography: Samay Arcentales Cajas “Samay beautifully captures this feeling by showing the way the Arcentales Cajas family live out their tradition in times of the global pandemic. They carried out their traditions when they first came to Canada following extensive pow-wow trails, continued practicing them through the running of the storefront, and now continue to live them through times of quarantine. Although they look quite different due to the restrictions for travelling and gathering, they still hold the teachings of family, community, and resilience at their core. Samay says “leaving the store was hard, but work has always come from home. We just grew up that way”. - Michaela Coyoli To read full essay, click here Credits: Director/Camera/Editor: Samay Arcentales Cajas Family Members: Kinoo Arcentales, Marcos Arcentales, Patricia Cajas, Samay Arcentales Cajas Commissioned by Toronto Queer Film Festival, Queer Emergencies 2020 To view please request link https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1592745176094-F0EW5N5OGVRP7LSHWWEP/DHStill03.jpg Personal Directors Statement: The Dancing Heart is a 5 minute 16mm dance film written and narrated by Ailyn Malit and directed by Samay Arcentales Cajas. It is to be made in honour of Ailyn, a dear friend and artist who passed in October 2018. This story is about a Mind, busy and stuck in his own thoughts. One day he meets Heart, a being who lives in eternal dance. The Heart tells the Mind of the wonders of music, and so he sets off on a mission: to discover his own heart and be able to dance to music. After trying and trying and thinking and thinking, the Mind goes back to Heart disappointed, unable to meet his goal. The Heart explains that there is no need for thinking, and that once you let music flow through you, everything becomes possible. The Mind follows the Heart’s guidance and finally discovers the beauty his heart holds. This epiphany brings laughter, and together they dance in harmony. Samay has been a frequent artistic collaborator of Ailyn’s for years. In their latest project, they planned to create a film based on the Dancing Heart and before she passed, Ailyn was able to record a live session of her own telling of the story. In it, her heartfelt, whimsical narration plays against the backdrop of soft, fickle guitar strings played by Arthur Bastos, a musician who had heard this story long ago, and continued to carry with him in his heart. To bring this project alive, she brought together people who all knew and loved Ailyn in life. Ailyn’s best friend, Jose Miguel, and the dance crew Rebels de la Soul, have now choreographed an incredibly moving interpretive dance to the piece, which was recorded on cassette tape. The raw authenticity offered by 16mm film will match the organic soundscape beautifully. The Dancing Heart brings us an important message. How do we balance our own minds and hearts within ourselves? As we all navigate our often isolating, money-driven contemporary world, it’s easy to get trapped in the endless circles our mind creates. If only we could be reminded that finding what makes our hearts content is really what matters. If only we were more encouraged to listen to the messages in our hearts so that we can come to a place of peace, no matter how fleeting that peace may be. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1564777914992-T8FIKX04HELYWE0M8J8C/BRAVE.png Personal - BRAVE Music Video - NOMVDSLVND CLICK HERE TO WATCH Music: nomvdslvnd Ceramics: Ailyn Malit Projection/Cinematography/Editing: Samay Arcentales Cajas https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1681095993451-TUT65SO4KDC5CLRFS7LA/Screen+Shot+2022-04-15+at+5.59.50+PM.png Personal https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1703971456686-9UYU7YQOVZXVU96B2FKO/GenerativeUnproductive_Rachel+Papo002.jpg Personal Generative/Unproductive is not oxymoronic: generative implies an openness that allows for the creation of endless variations of knowns or unknowns—rather than the outcome-focused goals pushed by productivity. In this encounter of moving image, poetry and live performance, Anto Astudillo invites a diverse group of artists of trans, non-binary, epupillán (two-spirit) and queer experience, to collaborate and be part of a multidisciplinary conversation, anticipated as “unproductive”: generating a gender fluidity-advocating ephemeral experience that opposes property and capital ideals by offering a healing and intimate relationship with territory. Generative/Unproductive brings living organisms (microorganisms and human beings) and varied media together to engage in expanded and contracted “cognitive interactions” -as described by Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela. Each artist constructs variable landscapes where bodies interrelate across disciplines, proposing genderless and gender-variant perspectives that exude organic matter. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1703976079948-W0771IV4M6CQIKYDCRWR/Sapi_Screenshot.png Personal https://samaycajas.com/contact daily 0.75 2019-01-22 https://samaycajas.com/about-samay daily 0.75 2023-04-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1681097275425-4VBAB2MRMR0JN8FE7PYK/Screen+Shot+2023-04-09+at+7.38.38+PM.png About https://samaycajas.com/contact-lange daily 0.75 2023-04-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58db00b19f7456695797383f/1681097921735-3IFVK28SEHP2E00MT16U/Screen+Shot+2023-04-09+at+7.38.38+PM.png Contact —