Directed by Edwin Alexis Gómez
DRAMA
This film is available from November 27-30, 2020. To watch or vote for this film please click on the orange “TICKETS” button below and purchase a ticket for BLOCK 3.
Synopsis
Teenage Latina sisters break their grandmother out of her assisted living facility for one last joyride.
Edwin Alexis Gómez is a Queer Nicaraguan-American writer, director, producer and actor. His body of work blends the resounding beauty and exquisite pain of love and life and becomes its own mythology. His directorial debut “Quédate Callado” (Stay Silent) won a Grand Jury Award at the 2018 Outfest Fusion Film Festival. His sophomore short film “La Sad Boy” premiered at the 2019 Outfest Film Festival and is currently making its rounds via the festival circuit. His third short film “Joyride” was awarded best screenplay from the Latino Screenwriting Academy and was selected for a Latino Public Broadcasting new media production grant and premiered this summer at the 2020 PBS Short Film Festival. He was selected as a 2019 Playwriting Fellow for Lambda Literary Foundation Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices for his play “Flower of Anger” and most recently as a 2020 VONA Voices Fellow in TV and Screenwriting. Gómez is currently developing his digital series “Frenemigas” and bringing his feature film version of “Joyride” to life.
Dear Festival Selection Committee,
My name is Edwin Alexis Gómez and I am a Queer Nicaraguan-American writer and director. I am excited to submit my script “Joyride” for consideration for your festival.
“Joyride” was born out of the pain of having lost my mother in the Fall of 2014. I stopped writing for two whole years and in those years free from notebooks and typing on my computer I reflected on what we inherit from our family, both biologically and emotionally.
This story is an homage to my grandmother and mother, both strong Nicaraguan women that sacrificed so much, including at times their own happiness for their children. This is not just a Latin American story, but a universal narrative that transcends race, ethnicity and nationality.
Our community places so many expectations on Latinas of all ages. My film hopes to eradicate those expectations and also remind viewers that they have the same agency. “Joyride” follows three generations of Latina women, a queer abuelita, her daughter and her grandchildren. It is an intergenerational story that allows audiences to reflect on mistakes, love and redemption by listening, honoring and learning from the generations before us. The themes dealt within the film are universal, but are catalyzed through a Female Latinx lens.
The Latinx community is hungry for content that reflects our experiences. Our country needs to see more positive depictions of Latinx people. I feel in many ways our narratives have primarily centered around drug cartels, gangs and border stories. While these narratives are important to tell I find myself yearning for other narratives that showcase just how rich and deep my community is.
In “Joyride”, Marina and Karina are empowered, rebellious, young Latina women. Their grandmother Juana allows us to connect and reflect on the roles that aging Latinos play in our world and the expectations that were placed on older LGBTQ+ folks. She serves as a reference to the price that is paid when life is not lived on our terms. She also serves as a reminder to the audience that life should be enjoyed to the fullest and that it is never too late to honor who you truly are.
This film was written with my little nieces, my sister, my mother, and my grandmothers in mind, with the intention of opening the hearts and minds of my nephews, my brothers, father and grandfathers.
Thank you for your time and consideration and for all the amazing work you do programming.
Yours in film,
Edwin Alexis Gómez
edwinalexisgomez@gmail.com
