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A former thief planning a new heist. Thieves donning luchador masks. San Antonio playing the part of Los Angeles.

It’s gotta be a movie. Right?

The fourth feature by San Antonio filmmaker Pablo Veliz, “Double Dagger,” makes its Texas premiere at 8 p.m., Saturday, June 21, at Santikos Palladium IMAX.

“Double Dagger” tells the story of Alvaro Estevez, a former thief who owns a once-successful jewelry store now in financial trouble. Facing bankruptcy, Estevez plans a heist against his own store so that he can file an insurance claim and retire with the money.

“This is like prom night,” said Veliz, likening his film’s premiere to another big event in many people’s lives.

Veliz, whose first feature, “La Tragedia de Macario,” screened at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, wrote “Double Dagger” based on an idea from his mother.

“She basically pitched a movie to me,” he said. (Mom gets her thanks in the movie’s credits.)

Much of the movie’s three-month shoot was done in San Antonio, which subbed for the film’s Los Angeles setting.

Veliz and his crew shot scenes along Houston Street, in the Stone Oak area and “any place that had palm trees,” said actor Manuel Garcia, who plays one of the hired thieves in the film.

Following its big screen premiere, “Double Dagger” will head to DVD next month.

The video distribution is part of a deal Veliz and his San Antonio-based production company CineVeliz Inc., has with Laguna Productions, a Los Angeles-based company that also has released Veliz’s other films “7 Kilos” and “Clemente.”

Melissa Rentería | 210SA contributor