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OJOS! Sneak peek at Gina Rodriguez’s new comedy and interview with director Nicole Gomez Fisher

Christine Davila1 Comment

nikniksmileUnveiling at the Brooklyn Film Festival  this weekend is the world premiere of SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES, the directorial debut of former stand up comic and actor, Nicole Gomez Fisher.  Gina Rodriguez plays the hilariously real and spirited star of the movie, Alexis Fish, a role she booked right as Filly Brown started making waves at film festivals last year.  A great cast of women join her including Tony Award winning stage and film actor, Priscilla Lopez who plays her mother, and Ana Ortiz (Ugly Betty)  who is enjoyably pert, as Gina’s sister.  Sleeping with the Fishes is also the first feature produced independently by Courtney Andrialis, a rising producer with many more exciting projects in development (she started her career as assistant to Bingham Ray in 2003).  I gotta say, I just love the female power of this film!   Check out the just- released trailer of the film, and read the interview I did where I check in with Nicole, a week before she releases her first baby (film) into the world.

How did your Latino/Jewish background and childhood inform your creative expression as you started conceiving of your first feature?  

I was born and raised in Brooklyn…a true Brooklynite at heart. My mother is Puerto Rican and my father is of Jewish descent, an interesting mix that has clearly influenced my life and my writing. I don’t necessarily identify with one over the other…both sides make up who I am. I knew when starting SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES that my background and my point of view wasn’t a filmmaker’s voice heard too often. I wanted to express myself and tell a story about a young woman trying to find herself in a world that she felt excluded from…not only from the outside world, but from her immediate as well.

 Screen Shot 2013-05-28 at 9.51.42 AMWhat’s your connection with Gina?  How was it to work with her in comedy?  She’s got great timing and tons of energy.  

I did not know Gina Rodriguez before making SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES. We met through our casting directors Sig DeMiguel and Steve Vincent. Her agent read the script and loved it, passed it on to her and BOOM!  A meeting was set. We actually met in the bathroom of Rosa Mexicana and it was love at first sight! Gina was incredibly energetic, bright, enthusiastic and funny! I was excited to work with someone “fresh”. I knew before we even ordered that we would work well together. She was just coming off the Sundance premiere for “Filly Brown”. It was an exciting time for her and it showed. She’s a natural when it comes to comedy, so she made directing incredibly easy. Gina’s choices were spot on and she just understood the timing of comedy. It takes a real pro to know when to “go there” and when to pull back and she did. I would say try this and within seconds she would make a slight adjustment and go. If she thought something didn’t work or wanted to try another shot, we went with it. Collaborating with her was such fun.  She made directing my first feature a pleasure.

The tale of a 30something whose life has not gone as expected and must deal with the pressure of returning to a childhood like dynamic at home with the parents, is so relatable and universal, but it can also be quite personal and individual, how personal is this screen variation to you?  What did you want to convey that you had not typically seen in this popular canon?  

Screen Shot 2013-05-06 at 10.55.19 AMIt’s personal. The story itself is loosely based on my family, but there are many aspects to it that are a mix of truth and fiction. For my lead, Alexis Fish (played by Gina Rodriguez), her coming back home after years of living a lie all in the name of “saving face” is paralyzing for her. As you mentioned, her resilience to stay true to herself has been an exhausting journey.  Having to deal with the loss of a loved one while trying to pick up the pieces of your life only makes it that much harder to overcome. I wanted to take a classic story and make it new. Yes, she is returning home to the pressures of family, but in Alexis’ case, returning home to her mother is what is so daunting. You have two strong women who don’t see eye-to-eye: one whose pride identifies her, the other whose pride is crushed as she struggles to find her identity.

 I love that you chose to do your first film a comedy.   There doesn’t seem to be as many first films as comedies tackled in the indie world, and even less from a female written and directed perspective.  What are your influences in this vein?   Also, what is it about our passionate Latino culture in particular you think that makes family dysfunction so melodramatic and ripe for comedy?

I was a stand up comic for years and I love writing comedy. I’m a huge fan of films that blend comedy and drama. It’s what life is made of—the ying and the yang.  Some of the funniest moments in life are also the saddest.  When you can stop and laugh at a time when hope seems dim, that is life changing. Laughter has pulled me through some really hard times. …Where there is passion, there is drama. From my experience, Latinos are very strong-minded, very passionate and very vocal about what we believe.  The combination makes for some terrific melodrama.  It’s who we are—they go hand in hand.

 Who were some key collaborators and mentors for you during the launching of your first feature?  Tells us about Courtney as producer – she’s from HD net films, how did you two bond about the making of this film?

Screen Shot 2013-05-28 at 11.14.33 AMSome of the key collaborators were my husband Joe, my friend and fellow screenwriter A.J. Meyers, my casting directors, my father and of course, my producer Courtney Andrialis. Courtney and I have built a solid relationship around SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES. I met her via our casting directors. She’s young, eager and has a ton of knowledge. She was an integral part of the making the film. She brought on an amazing team that held me up throughout the entire process, which for a first time director is so integral. There were a lot of learning curves for me. Courtney did a great job of keeping me together and supporting me throughout the entire process.

 As you navigate the wild west of distribution, how are you feeling and where are your expectations with getting the film out there?  Are you going to be exploring the newly paved roads of direct distribution models or pursuing the traditional theatrical and window route?  

It’s great that now filmmakers have so many ways to reach their audience.  We are excited for our world premiere at the Brooklyn Film Festival on June 1st.  After that, we’ll keep our fingers crossed and see!

Best of luck with the film and have a blast at your premiere, Nik!

For tickets & screening info (June 1 is sold out, but June 8 still available for all y’all NYers)

Film Contact: swtf13@gmail.com.

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#HotSec Fridays – UNDERSTUDY a short film by Cristina Malavenda

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Now here’s a fun sexy dance film to get the three day weekend party started. Jeanine Mason (winner of Season 5, So you Think You can Dance) stars in this 20 min short as a dance performer and understudy to the lead on an upcoming dance show at the Pantages. A friend videotapes her giddy excitement going through rehearsals leading up to the big show. Although nervous, her talent is unmistakeable as we watch her shimmy and twist through the choreography in a cool dance sequence shot on Melrose. But when a distraction threatens her focus, and then the scenario every understudy dreams and dreads appears, will she be ready to ‘Step Up’?

This was Cristina’s thesis short film at USC. I love how buoyant this feels. A loose, fluid camera follows the sizzling choreography, and Jeanine Mason is totally engaging as Clara.  Cristina was convinced that Jeanine was the only actor for the role so after a few failed attempts of making contact, her mentor sent the script to Mason’s manager.  She agreed to the project just one week before rehearsals.  Cristina says, ‘I think what she liked about the project was her opportunity to both dance and act.”  Since the short, Mason went on to land a recurring guest star turn in the ABC Family ballet comedy-drama series, Bunheads, and has a number of film and TV projects in the works.  Something tells me we will be seeing a lot more of her talent and dance skills.

Cristina writes, directs and edits fiction, non-fiction, animation and motion graphic films.  As an editor, Cristina’s work includes Woman Rebel (Oscar Shortlist 2010, HBO), Thunder Chance (Student Emmy Awards 2010, Comic-Con 2010), and Our Neck of the Woods (Sundance 2009). As a director, Cristina’s influential documentary film, No Kill in 2009 won Best Short Documentary and People’s Choice Awards at various festivals around the country, and aired on the KCET Fine Cut Series in May 2010.  She is currently working on three scripts. One is a feature length science fiction horror film. The second puts a spin on reality content, and the third is a mockumentary for television. She works full time at SpiritClips from Hallmark, an instant streaming company that generates short content.  Website: www.spiritclips.com

Check out her website to see her reels and get her contact info.

#HotSec Fridays – MEXICAN FRIED CHICKEN, a short film by Ivete Lucas

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Continuing my Friday short film series on underrepresented American bi-cultural walks of life, I’m so happy to share this documentary short film, Mexican Fried Chicken by Ivete Lucas and Otis Ike.  It’s a glimpse into the laborious life and overloaded pressures of Moises, a 14 year old teenager who in between his job at Popeyes, working at his father’s shop, and as the oldest having to babysit his siblings and other endless house chores, struggles to find time to enjoy being a teen in the United States. Like Moises, genuine and transparent, the film captures what is culturally specific of the sacrifices and work ethic of first generation Mexican Americans.  The unquestioned acceptance that we have to work harder and longer hours than anyone else in order to carve out a spot for our families. In just 13 minutes we get a real sense of Moises and his disarming good-nature, ambition and his radically unique hybrid brand of  American culture is charming. Overhearing the family’s shouting and playing throughout the house sliding back and forth from English to Spanish, all of this makes me cringe with empathy and I get a pang of childhood nostalgia even.  I never see this experience reflected save for in my own memories.  Back in Chicago, when my dad got the pink slip from Boeing after 15 years of work, my parents decided to open up a restaurant with the savings.  Naturally it was a family affair and so I had no choice in the matter but to help. I vividly remember a creeping resentment and alienation knowing that my friends were hanging at the mall, carefree while I had to work right after school, and on weekends full 12 hour days.  Yet I wouldn’t exchange that experience for the world.  Making the homemade salsas and preparing the chile rellenos as the Nortena music blasted on the radio, we cultivated a loyal clientele with an appetite and appreciation for our authentic food, which in turn gave me a special feeling and bi-cultural pride.

I reached out to filmmaker Ivete Lucas who was born in Brazil, grew up in Monterrey, Mexico and moved to Austin to attend the University of Texas. She made this short as part of her MFA in Film studies. First watch the short and read on for a quickie Q&A I did with her over email.

How did you find and get to know and gain this family’s trust? 

My producer, and now husband, Otis Ike initially met the Macedos through his aunt in Austin, TX. They live next to her and partied every weekend, blasting Mexican music. He made friends with the kids a few years before, and introduced me to them in 2009. Since I am Mexican, I could speak with them in Spanish. And although the kids speak perfect English, their parents don’t, so I helped them communicate with the neighbors. Moises was 13 at the time and he was about to start High School. He is an intelligent young man and was accepted into a very good school. His mom explained to me that he got good grades while working two jobs. I was very impressed by Moises, so hard working at such a young age, and I was extremely sad when he told me that he didn’t know if he could go to college because he didn’t have the right papers. So I asked them if I could make a movie about them. From that day on, I spent many afternoons at their house with a camera in my hands. They eventually got used to the camera and my presence. They knew they could talk to me in English or Spanish, that they could ignore me or engage me if they wanted to. I did everything I could to make them feel comfortable. They allowed me to be part of their world, and Moises made me his confidant.

How much footage did you shoot and over how long a period of time?

It was about two months of hanging out with Moises’ family two or three times a week. It must have been about 30 hours of footage.

Was there anything that surprised you during the shoot of the film?  Some revelation or insight you had from meeting this family and bringing this story to light?

I edited this film in a way that allows audience to experience the same surprises I had. Latinos have this will of gold. Life can hit us hard, but we are tough and we usually make it through. Sometimes it really hurts, but we always find the way to laugh and enjoy what we have. I’ve seen a lot of films made about Latinos facing hardships and they are usually bleak or angry. As a Latina, I wanted to make a film that reflected how we really deal with pain. Yes, we cry and get angry, but then we invite our friends over for carne asada and we dance, knowing that we’ll have to put up a fight tomorrow.

Ivette says that Moises is currently exploring college and is interested in applying to Texas State. Best of luck to Moises, and thanks Ivete for the q&a.  Looking forward to seeing more of your work!  Ivete is currently finishing up a documentary about Vietnam war reenactors, and just completed a new short shot in Mexico and with the collaboration of the Huichol tribe.  It’s called Ex-Votos.  Check it out here: 

TRAILER WATCH: Mexican film, HELI by Amat Escalante

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http://vimeo.com/65794852

Amat Escalante is now three for three as he will be taking his third film, HELI to next week’s Cannes, but this is his first time in Official Competition.  The screenplay for Heli was developed at the Sundance Screenwriters lab 2010 where it won the NHK Filmmaker Award.  At that stage the logline was described: “In a small Mexican town, where most citizens work for an automobile assembly plant or the local drug cartel, Heli is confronted with police corruption, drug trafficking, sexual exploitation, love, guilt and revenge in the search for his father who has mysteriously disappeared.”  Escalante is a Carlos Reygadas protege of sorts, he worked as Assistant Director on Battle of Heaven and they are boutique powerhouse collective through producer, Jaime Romandia’s Mantarraya Films.  A die hard, impactful formalistic filmmaker, the weight of his films comes from audaciously rigid framing, startling compositions, and magnetic usually non pro actor performances.

#HotSec Friday – LAREDO, TEXAS a short film by Topaz Adizes

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Announcing a new weekly feature:  Every Friday I’ll upload an eye-opening short film capturing the modern and authentic bi-literate American experience made by a talented multi-cultural American Filmmaker to Know.

To inaugurate the series I’m pleased to post the short film Laredo, Texas by Topaz Adizes, which screened at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.  With such short sighted, stat-driven, divisive and one sided media-induced rhetoric swirling around immigration reform and undocumented labor presently, this film offers a compassionate, layered and intimate glimpse, humanizing the issue and demonstrating its psychological depth.  At just about 11 minutes, the story quickly simmers and cuts into the heart of the compelling conflict between two points of view, which we get to see play out in a way that feels credible, because the circumstances that have led these two completely seemingly different people in such close proximity is a common instance of how life revolves.  Substantial, economical and veracious, it’s hard to tell this is a ‘scripted narrative’ and not a straight up documentary – a unique quality Topaz crafts in his films which tend to delve into the interconnection of national and cultural identity and how it confronts perception and ideology, all within a framework of transnationalism and globalism. His work has screened at numerous international festivals, and his Americana Project, shot around the world explores what it means to be American and is available for educational purposes.  He is currently working on a couple new feature films.  I highly recommend you get to know his meaningful, sociological and humanistic docudrama storytelling.  Check out his work on his website.

Politicizing The Girl

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Politicizing The Girl

Above is a link to the talk I did about David Riker’s film, The Girl, with Maria Hinojosa, the sinewy voiced, pioneering, accomplished and mega inspiring Latina journalist on her show Latino USA on NPR.  I highly urge you to see the film if it is playing near you. Check theater listings here here.

I’ve only recently started doing these interview snippet appearances.   Speaking about the merits and voices of films is something I believe I do brilliantly and passionately.  As much as I cringe when reviewing myself in these clips, I know it is imperative for me to do so in order to assess, improve and carve out an indispensable and attractive persona so I get to play film advocate on these “soundbyte” traditional broadband outlets going forward.

One of my biggest notes to self is I need to recognize the context in which the interview is coming from and perhaps tailor my spiel in advance.  Whether it’s recognizing that on Univision, more time will be spent asking me about the late Banda singer Jenni Rivera, whose untimely death caused a huge posthumous popularity surge now being timed to the movie release of Filly Brown, rather than talking about an unknown art house Cannes film – Or recognizing the lens and take of say Latino USA, which is a smart, Salon like a grassroots social, cultural and political voice.

Some notes to self:

1. Prepare short, snappy sentences!  Let them ask the questions.

2. Accentuate! Turn it up on TV with makeup and poise, on radio go for heightened upbeat voice and demeanor.

3.  Prepare for the outlet!

Perhaps the biggest take away for me is to arm myself for the challenge of addressing the convergence of Politics and Film.  I was ready to discuss and deconstruct the rich themes of plot and characters in The Girl from a film programming POV.  Having listened to some of Latino USA’s previous shows online, I should have been more aware and prepared in dissecting the film’s narrative from a political perspective.  Now that I see this interview clip indexed as one part of the channel’s immigration reform series on the site, I understand the ‘editing’ that took place to suit the program needs.  It sounded like Maria wanted to tackle it from the ‘friendly coyote’ angle, and in my naively grasping on to the overarching universal storyline of finding your motherhood,  I did not engage as fully to catalyze those discussions.   Lesson learned.

Any other constructive criticism?  Come on, tell me.  I have hard thick skin.

Screen Shot 2013-03-25 at 12.49.12 PM

Recommend: Gun Hill Road

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Recommend: Gun Hill Road

Thanks to this exclusive from Indiewire commenting on the precarious state indie films are left when their distributor goes bankrupt, for bringing to attention that one such film, Gun Hill Road, written and directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green has managed to overcome this unforeseen temporary roadblock and is now available on Netflix.  Co-starring Esai Morales and Judy Reyes, Gun Hill Road is a fierce and sensitive NYC coming of age trans drama buoyed by its break out star Harmony Santana.  The authentic and fresh way the film deals with an identity crux of a gender variant teen clashing with the father’s traditional Latino masculinity (machismo) is a triumph for the rarely represented Latino LGBT voice.  Put it on the top of you instant queue ahorita!

p.s. regarding the Indiewire piece, word on the street is that Filly Brown which was recently dumped by Indomina Releasing has been picked up by Lionsgate, but this girl has been unable to confirm.

Lessons from La Lupe

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Since Sunday night’s Oscar telecast the interwebs have exploded with fury about the omission of Lupe Ontiveros in the Academy’s In Memoriam segment. I didn’t think to add my 2 cents until right now because frankly I wasn’t surprised at all. But now I got something I think worth sharing. I was combing through my computer for some video and I ran into this clip I took of the late great Lupe at last year’s NALIP where she delivered a moving speech in her irresistible, witty, loving spicy way to bestow the Lifetime Achievement Award to Rita Moreno. You know what I get out of this? It’s our responsibility and ours alone to value and recognize our people. Are we really so appalled and shocked that the Academy denied her membership? What good is it to ask the Academy to explain and question their commitment to Latinos? I suppose it could be looked as a tongue in cheek PR move because clearly that is not on their list of To Do’s, let alone their sensibility. What really gets me is that it seems like we are seeking validation from an elite society of homogenized, old white males, half of them retirees. I believe the significance of the Academy Award is more an antiquated status symbol, a vestige of show business like the stars in my neighborhood’s Hollywood Walk of Fame, than a recognition of achievement.

If this incident serves to fuel and spill our community’s amor and tribute to La Dona Lupe’s legacy, that is indeed a positive. But hear her words in this clip. How she shares her sincere admiration, love and respect for Rita Moreno. It makes me think, its more beautiful, powerful and honest when we ourselves elevate and commend our mentors, peers and younger generation. Another key observation in this clip;  Notice Lupe calling out Ms. Moreno by way of inviting her to be part of NALIP, essentially pointing out that this highest Entertainment Awarded Puerto Rican woman, is not part of the National Association of Latino Producers, a grassroots organization which struggles but continues to support a young crop of filmmakers with labs, workshops and development opportunities. “Show up once a year”, Lupe says. ” We need figures like you.”

Goes to show that there are members of the Academy who are brown. I take more issue with the Hollywood Latinos who having personally faced and overcome barriers and stereotypes, yet once on the inside, don’t take the obligation or responsibility seriously as self identified Latinos, to keep the gates open.

La Bamba Rebelde by Las Cafeteras

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I’m going to miss them at Los Globos next Wednesday but I will for sure be checking out their show at SXSW. If you are around in LA, get your $5 tickets here.
Love the refashioned La Bamba lyrics.

Blacktino – Finally emerges and now out on iTunes!

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This is the best end of day news ever! Ever since I heard about this comedy by Aaron Burns play 2011 SXSW, I have been dying to watch it. Especially after the charming trailer.  After its SXSW premiere it played New York International Latino Film Festival and more or less fell of the face of the planet.  I remember emailing the filmmakers endlessly for months last year to try to program it at the Downtown Independent. Elizabeth Avellan is the producer (and mother) of Aaron Burn’s first feature.  The film’s cast includes Michelle Rodriguez and Danny Trejo.  Let’s watch it on iTunes here