The Filmmakers From This Season's mitú x Walmart Filmmaker Mentorship Program

Hollywood Journal

The mitú x Walmart Filmmaker Mentorship Program is back for a second season and THR Correspondent and actress, Alycia Pascual-Peña ('Saved by the Bell') sat down with this season's filmmakers Manuel Villareal ('El Colibrí'), Kaila Gutierrez ('Nana Carmen'), Matthew Serrano ('Pick One') and Sofía Ayerdi ('Aguamadre') about the program. These aspiring Latino filmmakers were paired with mentors, actress Justina Machado and director Oz Rodriguez, who guided each filmmaker as they created, produced, and directed their films.  This THR Interview was filmed, produced, and directed by a predominately Latino crew.

Transcript

00:00Could we please go down the line and have each of you guys share your cultural identity?

00:05Well, I am a queer first-generation Mexican-American.

00:10I'm Mexican-American with roots in Guadalajara and Oaxaca.

00:13Proud first-generation Salvadorian-American.

00:16I'm Mexican with roots in Guerrero, Mexico.

00:20I am proudly a first-gen American Dominicana from the Bronx and Afro-Latina.

00:30When was the first time you felt seen on screen?

00:45It was on Disney XD called Star vs. The Forces of Evil.

00:48His mom is white, his dad is Latino.

00:50And literally we like stood up and just started screaming.

00:53And then for like the rest of the episode, I like looked down and my hands like could not stop shaking.

00:57And I was like, wow, so this is what it feels like.

01:00Oh my God.

01:01And like from that point on, I was like, whoever I can help to have that same feeling,

01:06like that is like one of my main goals as a filmmaker.

01:10It wasn't until I was like older and I remember watching Dr. Strange like recently with Xochitl Gomez on screen.

01:16I like started crying because I was like, oh my gosh,

01:19because it was like one of the first things you see in like this big like movie.

01:22And so like that meant a lot to me.

01:24I don't think I ever had that moment of like watching something on TV and feeling seen just

01:28because I'm like, where are the queer Mexicans at?

01:31Yeah.

01:32Nowhere.

01:34I would love to create that moment for other people.

01:35I would love to put Latinos in stuff like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter,

01:41you know, build that world.

01:42Why can't we exist there too?

01:43And I realized those moments throughout your childhood and throughout your life where

01:48you see someone on the screen and you feel connected with them and you just feel that you can

01:54be them, that you can, that you are so much more and that you can achieve so much more.

01:59It is powerful.

02:00What were your abuelos, your tías, your tíos watching that you also took notice?

02:04Novelas.

02:05Same.

02:06Every day.

02:07That in Caso Cerrado.

02:08Oh my God, Caso Cerrado and Cristina.

02:10I don't know if you guys ever watched Cristina, but like.

02:13Yeah.

02:14I was about to say.

02:15I was about to say, and like the first Spanish word I learned was,

02:19Fuera.

02:20Fuera.

02:21There's power and specificity and being like, wait, that's in my household.

02:25A lot of the experiences that I wrote in Agua Madre were based on that.

02:29And also based on my grandmas and my mom.

02:33I grew up with a lot of women in my family.

02:36So just that love that they gave me and that in spite of the fights they might have or in

02:41spite of the passions both of them might experience at the end of the day, it's family

02:45and you love them no matter what.

02:47I don't necessarily always think about like tying culture into it.

02:50I think just because I am, it just naturally will always come out.

02:54And the idea of wanting to tell a story about my Nana was always kind of there.

02:59And it was based off one of my fondest memories.

03:02Well, everything that I make is inspired by my family.

03:05It was inspired very much by my aunt Olga, my tia Olga.

03:07She died when I was very, very young.

03:10And that left a really huge profound impact on me.

03:12And so I thought about, oh, okay, how can I tell a story about grief?

03:18My mom and my dad were 100% based off of my mom and dad and all that

03:22experience 100% based off of me.

03:24It was really, really exciting that I got to just unapologetically make the movie about

03:28being Salvadorian.

03:29Yeah.

03:30As Latine people in the entertainment industry, I'm like, there shouldn't be stories about us

03:34without us.

03:35And when you see that on screen, it goes, okay, I'm not alone.

03:40I wanted to make sure that my dad got represented as a Salvadorian immigrant.

03:45Yeah.

03:45Problem is my actor Jose, when he sent his first self-tape in, it was my mom that pointed out.

03:51My mom was like, kind of has the Chicano accent slipping in there a little bit.

03:55Okay, mom.

03:56I love that she's a part of the process.

03:57She, oh yeah.

03:58We all brought family into this.

04:01Yeah.

04:01And you know, it wasn't planned.

04:03They didn't tell us a specific set of things we had to add to our script.

04:06But just naturally, because of how we grew up and because of our values, it's like,

04:11we come with a package.

04:12Yeah, same.

04:13We come with our family.

04:14Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

04:15When we go to the mall, we all go.

04:17Oh, let's do it.

04:18And speaking of family, through this Me Too, Walmart, Filmmaker Mentorship Program,

04:23what did you guys learn from your mentors, Justina Machado and Oz Rodriguez?

04:27I think the biggest thing from both of them was just having someone be like,

04:31you got this.

04:32And we're here to support you.

04:33And don't let anything stop you because you deserve to be here.

04:37What's been really great about the program is that it's given us access to resources.

04:41We got to meet with storyboard artists.

04:44They gave us graphic designers for our posters.

04:46There was a lot of things that they provided,

04:48including the money that they gave us to be able to make the films.

04:52How has the Me Too, Walmart Filmmaker Mentorship Program pushed your filmmaking dreams forward?

04:56I think just being told and appreciated that we can enter these spaces

05:02have been one of the biggest things.

05:04Because, you know, imposter syndrome is a big thing.

05:07You don't see too many Latino faces in some of these spaces,

05:11and especially in the film world, but like going in and knowing like,

05:14oh, there's a whole community of people rooting for me

05:16and who want to help me and are helping each other.

05:18I think that's the biggest thing.

05:20Yeah.

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