This film will finally give me a voice.There are so many other facets of the film that people can relate to. People who have struggled with gender identity , parents with mental illness, absent parents and gangs.

 

Rebel a teenage boy of mixed race ( Latino and Caucasian) coming of age. After the mom has a nervous breakdown and is taken away. He is expelled from High school for drinking and defacing school property with Graffiti. His sister Veronica leaves to be a teenager tired of playing mom but leaving him to deal with an emotionally unavailable father. He loses himself in his art and writing and finds solace in the music of The Smiths while educating himself with his literary heroes; Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and Rimbaud.

He is forced to confront his identity when he begins to explore his gender-fluid awakening after stealing his sister’s clothes and make up. He tries to suppress these feelings with religion and tries to maintain appearances to his friends and family. Ultimately pushing him further into a world of drugs, gangs and violence with a backdrop of the 1992 riots. Through the self-destruction he finally emerges self-realized and calm.

REBEL'S WORLD
COLOR: I want to use a triatic color scheme with reds, blues, and yellows. That will all symbolize the negativity in the external world. The colors are all beautiful on their own but together they are disjointed, much like the everyday interactions in Rebel's life with his family.

When Rebel is instrospective a neon pallettte of pinks,blues and purples will dominate his landscape and saturate his world that will represent his binary gender.I want to use overly saturated neon’s palette to represent the emotional journey of his gender fluidity.The colors of his innerself will be pleasant and complementary to the eye, so we feel like he is in his natural element and comfortable with himself.

I wanted to bring forth a juxtaposition between his disjointed waking life and his  inner waking world. all based around color symbolism.  

 

 

 

SHOOTING STYLE
I have always felt akin to Noir films, one of my favorites being Chinatown, It is in my opinion the first  Film Noir in color and my hope is to create that aesthetic through the camera using  anamorphic lenses with a 4k digital camera system.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

 

This has been a very difficult journey for me to finally tell my story about growing up in a low income neighborhood trying to understand my gender fluidity and my culture identity. I used a caucasian actor as my mixed race protagonist, so the audience could feel a natural disjointedness from the character. As a boy I never fit into any general mold of my culture or life.In the true sense of the word I was a “Pocho” which means a Mexican who is trying to Americanize hilmself and can't speak the language.  I was stuck between two very different cultures.

 

I rejected my father's culture of Mexico because there was discord in our father and son relationship. I made it my goal to erase my father’s cultural foot print from my life, not realizingl until later that I can embrace my cultural heritage and still keep my individuality . With the discovery of video one and request video on the public channels stations (we couldn’t afford cable and M.T.V.) I started a journey into sound with bands like The Cure and Depeche Mode which would lead me to the music of The Smiths. Their music and philosophies of life paralleled my life in so many ways. I credit their music in helping me discover some of my literary heroes.

 

I saw myself as a white kid internally and started dressing in the fashions of the time. I was persecuted for being different in my predominately Latino gang ridden neighborhood. So I created a character of mixed race that mirrored my internal and cultural identity. I have always felt torn between two cultures my Mexican heritage and my American culture.

 

This has been a very personal and introspective journey, I feel now is the right time to tell this story. I hope people going through the same or similar issues as I did will identify. I grew up wanting to be more in tune with a feminine side amongst an overwhelmingly masculine environment all while not having a mother figure to help me grapple with a side of my self-none of my friends could understand. I found my voice through this script and now I need to share it with an audience.

 

 

Alot of time and talent has been donated to the project. We continue to gather creative people and resorces to make this production come to fruition, We are looking to raise $20,000 dollars  for  the production portion of the film;  Locations, food, wardrobe, equipment  and all the little things that add up. We are getting closer and starting to  connect all the pieces of this wonderfull narative together, take a journey with us. 

 

I am excited to be part of this new journey and I feel a kinship to the actors that are passionate about the project and standing behind it. I wouldn’t want it any other way. They have taken the script and gave it life and continue to put in the work to craft their best performances. Most of the actors including myself are recent graduates or will be graduating later this year from the Ruskin Theater School of Acting. We have gone through an intense two year program with some of the best teachers and actors in the industry.

 

“ Being an actor is a religious calling because you've been given the ability, the gift to inspire humanity.” - Sanford Meisner

 

 

*PLEASE check out additional SWEET & TENDER HOOLIGAN DIARIES from the Cast & Crew in the media section. Thanks!

 

 

 

You can help us in a big way just FOLLOW our passion project on SEED&SPARK. Our goal is to reach 1000 followers and 100% of our funding goal so we may qualify for The 100 Days of Optimism. We look forward to you following our journey from inception to the screen. Hit the follow button, spread the word and tell your friends. #CaseForOptimism

 

 

Thank you 

Jose Alfredo Garcia