David Damian Figueroa is Executive Producer of Art is Life a Documentary about Actor Pepe Serna and an official selection of The Palm Springs Film Festival
By Bel Hernandez Castillo
David Damian Figueroa is an artist, storyteller, and activist at heart. He is also a producer and an author whose second book “El Oz”, a new children’s book loosely based on “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” is top on the Fiction Bestseller list at publisher Lulu.com.
Four years ago David Damian moved from Los Angeles to La Quinta in the Coachella Valley, a two-hour drive East of L.A. Since then he has written two books, produced a TV talk show pilot, three independent films, poetry, and digital art exhibited in museums. He is currently also working on developing two reality television shows. The move definitely suited him.
We wonder how he finds the time to do all this when he is also working full-time as the Director of Development with the non-profit organization Farmworker Justice whose work helps to improve farmworker’s living and working conditions.
His mother’s untimely early death left a void in his heart, a need to live more fully. “When she passed away it left this longing in me,” Figueroa explained. “Life is to be enjoyed, life is to be experienced. Whatever amount of time we have we need to say, ‘I can do this. I can be that…why can’t I have that?’”
Loosely based on “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum, “El Oz” tells the story of a young girl from El Pueblito de Los Milagros, Dolores, and her Chihuahua, Pepito. They live on a ranchito with Tia Tonia and Tios Ozvaldo, Wilfredo, Pablo, and Leonardo. Dolores’ simple life is filled with dancing, chores of feeding the farm animals, laundry, and cooking meals for the family. Her Tia and Tios struggle to make ends meet and pay the rent to Señora Vicenta the landlady. When a sudden rainstorm hits Dolores and Pepito take cover falling asleep under a large tree. When they awake, they find themselves in a strange land. A place where flowers with faces sing and her dog, Pepito, can now speak.
El Oz is Figueroa’s personal tribute to one of his heroes, civil rights activist and co-founder of the United Farm Workers, Dolores Huerta, as well as his farmworker family back in Yuma, Arizona. “They have taught me the value of hard work and never giving up on one’s dreams.”
In the book, a hummingbird guides Dolores (named after his hero Huerta) to the guardian Necaxa, who gives her a red heart-shaped necklace for protection and instructs Dolores to follow her own heart, down a Talavera-tiled path to Ozlandia to meet El Oz. Only he can help her to return home. Along the way, Dolores and Pepito meet Necaxa, Los Chiquitos, El Empresario, and befriend Welo, Hierro, and El Leon. They help protect Dolores from the evil and wicked La Chaquetza and Los Malalas.
David Damian is executive producer of “Pepe Serna Life is Art,” a documentary about the amazing life and career of veteran actor Pepe Serna. The film was an official selection of The Palm Springs Film Festival. David Damian also produced Abuelo, a short film starring Serna which was accepted into the 2022 Cannes Film Festival’s Market Section. He is also an executive producer on Food Chains, a documentary about the plight of U.S. farmworkers that premiered at Berlinale – The Berlin International Film Festival.
David was recently interviewed on Latin Heat’s Hollywood Talks by Bel Hernandez.
El Oz is available at all retailers including lulu.com, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Amazon, Google Books and Apple Books
Product Details:
ISBN-13: 9781678011451
Publisher: Lulu.com
Publication Date: 02/22/2022
Pages: 118
Dimensions: 6 X 9