# Ruben Maria Soriquez

Ruben Maria Soriquez (born August 2, 1971) is a Filipino-Italian film actor, director and producer.

## Early life and education

Soriquez was born on August 2, 1971. His father is Filipino and his mother is Italian. He graduated from the University of Bologna with a degree in Human Resources. In 2007, he took a filmmaking course organized by the New York Film Academy in Florence and studied script-writing and editing in New York. He obtained a diploma in acting at Colli Theatre School in 2008.

## Career
### 2011–2013: Debut in Italy

After making his directorial debut with the documentary Montovolo: History, Nature and Legend in 2011, Soriquez directed Sexocracy: The Man of Bunga Bunga , a documentary feature film based on an interview with Lele Mora, which was released in May 2012. It received a nomination for Best Documentary at the 2012 New York City International Film Festival.
In 2013, He directed The Broken Crown, a co-production between Italy, Germany, and the Philippines, with a cast including Andrea Roncato , Tony Sperandeo , Horst Janson, Massimo Bonetti , Manuela Morabito, and Ron Williams.

### 2013–2019: Acting and Directing in the Philippines

Ruben moved to the Philippines in late 2013, where he founded See Thru Pictures, Inc., a film production and distribution company. With See Thru Pictures, Soriquez produced the movie Of Sinners and Saints in 2015. Acting alongside him were Raymond Bagatsing, Polo Ravales, Richard Quan, and Althea Vega. For his lead role in the movie, Soriquez won Best Actor in the 2015 World Premieres Film Festival He got his first television drama role in Dolce Amore in 2016, playing Roberto Marchesa, the adoptive father of Liza Soberano's character, Serena. In 2017, he appeared in two Star Cinema films: Can't Help Falling in Love starring Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla and Unexpectedly Yours starring Robin Padilla and Sharon Cuneta. In 2019, Ruben Maria Soriquez appeared in the action TV series The General's Daughter, playing the role of weapons smuggler David Pascal .

### 2007–2021: as Producer

Since 2007, Soriquez has produced several feature films and TV movies , (including the horror films: Arachnicide and Dead Gamers both directed by Italian director Paolo Bertola). He is one of the few contemporary filmmakers to produce and direct silent films (A Perfect Family and The Silent Killer the latter scored by Italian composer Franco Eco) to be premiered at the International Silent Film Festival Manila. On May 7, 2021, TubiTV released his controversial documentary film Pandemiocracy

### Debut in the International TV scene

In 2018, Soriquez joined the cast of the TV series General Commander, starring Steven Seagal, with the role of the mafioso Santino Amato. In the following year, four films in which he stars (Of Sinners and Saints, The Spiders' Man , The Lease and Entrapped) were released in the US.

### Representing Italy through Films

Between 2015 and 2018 Ruben Maria Soriquez was a board member of the ICCPI Italian Chamber of Commerce in The Philippines Inc., promoting the Culture of Italy in South East Asia especially in The Philippines. In 2017, with the ICCPI, the Dante Alighieri Society of Manila and the Embassy of Italy in Manila, he founded The Venice Film Festival in Manila, an Italian Film Festival that screened in Manila a selection of Italian Films of the Venice Film Festival 2016. The festival changed its name to "Italian Cinema: from Venice to Manila" for the 2018 edition where Italian films from the Venice Film Festival 2017 were screened. In 2016 his film Of Sinners and Saints represented Italy together with the film My Friends (film) of Mario Monicelli at the 19th Cine Europa in Manila. In 2017 his contemporary Silent film A Perfect Family represented Italy at the 11th International Silent Film Festival Manila and his 2020 silent film The Silent Killer was one of the two Italian entries to the 14th International Silent Film Festival Manila

### EPIFF European Philippine International Film Festival

Ruben Maria Soriquez founded the European Philippine International Film Festival EPIFF in 2017 with Maurizio Baldini e Lorenzo Galanti. The first two editions of EPIFF took place in Florence, Italy in March 2018 and May 2019, while the 2020 and 2021 editions took place online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 4th edition (2021) has been partnered by See Thru Pictures, Film Philippines Incentives, FDCP, NCCA, Sentro Rizal. Among the films showcased was Milan (2004 film) produced by Philippines' largest network ABSCBN.

## Personal life

In 2013, Soriquez settled in the Philippines with his wife, Lanie Martin Gumarang, and their children.

## Filmography
### Films

| Year | Title | Role | Studio | Notes |
| 2011 | Sexocracy: The man of Bunga Bunga | narrator | — | as Director, Associate Producer and Film Editor |
| 2013 | The Broken Crown | — | — | as Director, Writer, Executive Producer, Film Editor, Cinematographer, and Camera Operator |
| 2015 | Of Sinners and Saints | Father Leonardo | See Thru Pictures | as Actor, Director, Writer, Executive Producer and Film Editor |
| 2017 | Can't Help Falling in Love | Cristofano | Star Cinema | as Actor |
| 2017 | A Perfect Family | Father | See Thru Pictures | as Actor, Director |
| 2017 | Unexpectedly Yours | Ricardo Alvarez | Star Cinema | as Actor |
| 2018 | The Lease | Romano Gonzales | Utmost Creative | as Actor |
| 2018 | The Spiders' Man | Alberto Medina | See Thru Pictures | as Actor, Director |
| 2019 | Entrapped: a day of terror | Nar | See Thru Pictures | as Actor, Co_Producer |
| 2020 | The Silent Killer | Father Ruben | See Thru Pictures, iWatchMore Originals | as Actor, Director, Producer |
| 2021 | Pandemiocracy | Father | Leomark Studios | as Actor, Director, Producer |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Network |
| 2015 | Kano Luvs Pinay | Italian husband | TV5 |
| 2016 | Dolce Amore | Roberto Marchesa | ABS-CBN |
| 2017 | Tadhana: Millionaire Maid | Antonio De Luca | GMA Network |
| 2018 | General Commander | Santino Amato | Saradan Media |
| 2019 | The General's Daughter | David Pascal | ABS-CBN |
| 2021 | Pandemiocracy | Father Ruben | TubiTv |
| 2023 | The Rain in España | Jake | Viva Communications Inc. |
| 2023 | The Iron Heart | Marcus | Kapamilya Channel A2Z |

## Accolades

| Year | Award-giving Body | Category | Notable Works | Result |
| 2015 | World Premieres Film Festival, PH | Best Performance by an Actor (Filipino New Cinema Award) | Of Sinners and Saints | Won |
| 2015 | World Film Awards, INDONESIA | Achievement in Specific Category (Actor) | Of Sinners and Saints | Won |
| 2015 | Accolade Competition, US | Leading Actor | Of Sinners and Saints | Won |
| 2015 | Terra di Siena Film Festival, ITA | Best Film | Of Sinners and Saints | Nominated |
| 2016 | International Independent Film Awards, US | Best Actor in a Leading Role (Joint winner with Emerson Smith) | Of Sinners and Saints | Won |
| 2016 | Honolulu Film Awards, US | Best Film | Of Sinners and Saints | Won |
| 2017 | Indian World Film Festival, INDIA | Best Actor | Of Sinners and Saints | Won |
| 2017 | Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards | Best Actor | Of Sinners and Saints | Won |
| 2017 | Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards | Best Feature | Of Sinners and Saints | Won |
| 2019 | Olympus Film Festival, US | Best Dark Comedy Feature | The Spiders' Man | Won |
| 2019 | Olympus Film Festival, US | Best Ensemble Cast | The Spiders' Man | Won |
| 2019 | Madrid International Film Festival, ES | Best Editing in a Foreign Language Film | The Spiders' Man | Nominated |
| 2019 | International Independent Film Awards, US | Directing | The Spiders' Man | Won |
| 2019 | International Independent Film Awards, US | Best Narrative Feature | The Spiders' Man | Won |
| 2020 | Asia Pacific International Filmmaker Festival & Awards | Best Director | The Spiders' Man | Won |
| 2020 | Accolade Competition, US | Best Supporting Actor | The Spiders' Man | Won |