Robert Rodriguez stands at the front of a west Los Angeles theater answering questions from a group of film teachers who've just seen "El Mariachi," the award-winning movie he made for an unheard-of $7,000.

With his film in hand, he landed a two-year contract to write and direct movies for Columbia Pictures and a national distribution deal for "El Mariachi." He'd originally made the film only as a learning experience, hoping to recoup his investment by selling it on the Spanish-language home video market.

The crowd of film teachers and students dressed in black gathered to hear Rodriguez is so smitten with the young director and his whimsical action-adventure film that they frequently break into spontaneous applause. Similar reaction to the film's story of the guitar player who travels the dusty roads of Mexico on a motorcycle earned Rodriguez the top audience award at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.