Outfest, the renowned Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival, and Ovation Hollywood will be hosting Outfest Under The Stars with a special Grease Sing-A-Long event in celebration of the legendary film’s 45th Anniversary this Friday, August 11th. As part of the special event, LGBTQ+ Latine award-winning filmmaker and advocate, Daniel Eduvijes Carrera‘s new short film El Paisa, will be opening the evening with a special screening of the film prior to the Grease sing-a-long. The free community event will be hosted at the Ovation Hollywood Courtyard (formerly Hollywood & Highland). Doors open at 5 pm and the screening begins at 6:30 pm. Carrera will join his mentor, award-winning director, and published author Randal Kleiser, director of Grease at the beginning of the night to introduce their films and Kleiser’s latest published book, Drawing Directors.
“I’m humbled and absolutely thrilled to have been invited by Outfest to screen my latest film alongside Grease. Talk about a dream come true! And what an extraordinary honor to share the stage with one of my mentors, the incomparable Randal Kleiser whose kind support has been instrumental in helping me hone my voice as a queer Latine filmmaker.” shares Carrera
El Paisa, written and directed by Carrera and produced by Miguel Angel Caballero, is an empowering narrative short film that reflects the diversity of queer Latine immigrant communities in Los Angeles. The coming-of-age drama follows gay goth skater Fernando (Cristian Urbina), who after being rescued from a gang of cholos by a stern vaquero (David Ty Reza) on the streets of East LA, finds the courage to put an end to closeted young love, leading to a newfound connection to his Latine and LGBTQ+ familiar.
In making this film, Carrera wanted to not only shed light on the diversity of the Latine LGBTQ+ community but also to uplift Latine talent both in front of and behind the camera. True to the spirit of the story, the film’s cast is 100% Latine and the crew is 90% Latine. El Paisa, funded in part by Latino Public Broadcasting, will be distributed online and on television via LPB/PBS in 2024 after its film festival run, taking the film’s uplifting messages of diversity, acceptance, and empowerment through Latinx culture, to a broader audience.
Writer/Director Daniel Eduvijes Carrera is an accomplished voice in American Latine filmmaking. His work has screened at the Tribeca, Guadalajara, Morelia, Huesca, and Los Angeles Film Festivals, at numerous art museums, and on international television broadcasts. He’s the winner of the Imagen Foundation Award, the Top Prize winner in Ovation TV’s Search for the Next Revolutionary Filmmaker, and was recognized as Best Latino Film Director by the Directors Guild of America Student Film Awards.
The film’s original music was written, composed, and produced by Ricky Garay and Silas Hite of Los Tigres del Acordeón presented by Cumbia Fever. The film’s opening song Banquito is a charming cumbia about falling in love at a nightclub, based on Garay’s own love story.
RSVP for this event at https://outfest.eventive.org/schedule/64cbf7c3e2ae6b00aba9988b.
