Edwin Decena
# Edwin Decena

Edwin Decena is an American music video and independent film director.

Edwin first contribution as a filmmaker came directing and editing the reggaeton documentary "Chosen Few: El Documental."

## Early life and education

Decena was born in Passaic, New Jersey and is of Dominican descent. He graduated from Passaic High School and studied sociology at Rutgers-Newark. While at Rutgers, he hosted a college radio show where he interviewed several independent hip hop artist that he would eventually direct music video for.

## Career

### Music Videos

Decena has created a number of music videos for many artists, including Plies featuring T-Pain ("Shawty"), Cupid ("Cupid Shuffle"), Lil Boosie featuring Jeezy ("Better Believe It"), Jaheim ("Never"), Webbie ("I Miss You"), Rich Boy ("Let's Get This Paper"), Saigon featuring Swizz Beatz and Just Blaze ("C'mon Baby"), DG Yola ("Ain't Gon Let Up"), Troy Ave ("Rep For My City"), Governor ("Blood Sweat and Tears"), Anthony Hamilton featuring Musiq Soulchild and Jaheim ("Struggle No More"), Red Cafe featuring Fabolous and Diddy ("Money, Money, Money"), Maino featuring Swizz Beaz ("Million Bucks"), and Slim featuring Yung Joc and Shawty Lo ("So Fly").

### Short and Feature Films

In 2006, he co-directed the feature film, Transformations with his childhood friend Javier Molina. The film went on the win an Odyssey Award for best feature film at the 5th Annual H2O International Film Festival. In 2011, Edwin directed 2 part short film series entitled Hunting Shadows starring Rob Morgan, Darlenis Duran, Goya Robles and Tanaya Henry.

## Style

Throughout the majority videos in which he collaborated with cinematographer Kitao Sakurai, Decena employed the use of handheld camera which enhanced the immediacy of the visual experience. As a response to declining production budgets, Decena's work focused on realism, cinematic aesthetic, and an attempt honest characterizations of his subjects as opposed to hype realistic and flashy imagery.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Type | Role |
| - | - | - | - |
| 2004 | "Chosen Few: El Documental" | Documentary | Chief Editor |
| 2006 | "Transformations" | Feature Film | Director |
| 2006 | "Chosen Few II: El Documental" | Documentary | Director |
| 2010 | "Aardvark" | Feature Film | Assistant Director |
| 2011 | "Hunting Shadows" | Short | Director |
| 2012 | Murdaland Prince | Short | Director |
