-CENTERPIECE FILM-
SUMMERTIME

Wednesday April 28th 2021, 12:01 am - Sunday, May 2nd @ 11:59 pm

Virtual Festival

Film Details

Runtime: 95 mins

Language: English

Director: Carlos López Estrada

Country: USA, 2020

Genre: Bi, Drama, Gay, Lesbian, LGBTQ, Romance

SOUTHEAST PREMIERE

Over the course of a hot summer day in Los Angeles, the lives of 25 young Angelinos intersect. A skating guitarist, a tagger, two wannabe rappers, an exasperated fast-food worker, a limo driver - they all weave in and out of each other’s stories. Through poetry they express life, love, heartache, family, home, and fear. One of them just wants to find someplace that still serves good cheeseburgers. With its Slacker-inspired structure, fanciful form, and exuberant magical realism, Summertime is a free-verse poem by youth, but for ALL….gay, lesbian and straight…demanding inclusion and acceptance. The young poets radiate vitality, honesty, and profound emotion. By the time they wind up together in a tricked-out mega-limo overlooking the city, we believe in what their crazy, creative togetherness represents: hope. As the driver says, “Y’all got a pocket full of dreams, so don’t let me down.”

(QUEER) Sense and Sensibilities - While the GLBT community can’t claim to be the only people on the forefront of culture, politics and current affairs, we do seem to be high level consumers of this content and have a knack for understanding queerness more than your average Joe. It’s not Queer in the label for those who refuse the binary concept of gender…although we appreciate that use of the term, it’s the act of the embracing of content that just seems to speak to the community, without being overtly GLBT. Thus a “queer sensibility” with a nod to issues of importance to the community that seem to correspond to our past struggles, and to those that are still to come. A sense of whimsy and fun in an otherwise static or stale environment. While it might not be easy to identify, you certainly know it when you see it and with Summertime you know it. The exuberance and passion and intensity in the subtle call for action: Inclusion, racial justice, gentrification, heartbreak, issues that we as a community tend to feel strongly about and act against oppression are highlighted with vigor in the film. Poetry, and Dance and Music come together in a push for solidarity and understanding. So while not necessarily a GLBT film, the subject, delivery method and queer sensibility make the film a must see and with one of the highlights being a poem by a ferocious lesbian slamming about “how gay she is” and a main character out and proud..how could we not show it!
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FILMMAKER Q&A

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