Cinematical

Quinceanera, a feature film in the Dramatic Competition about a young Hispanic girl rejected by her family when she gets pregnant, is getting great audience response and a lot of buzz at the Sundance Film Festival. Cinematical sat down with the film's directors, Richard Glazter and Wash Westmoreland, to talk about their film.

Cinematical: You must have been thrilled to have Quinceanera accepted into Sundance. Did you anticipate how positive response would be to your film?

Wash: Well, of course you have fantasies about how your film will do; Richard and I both had our individual fantasies, but we didn't really talk about them openly - we didn't want to jinx it.

Richard: Until it's up in front of the audience, you just don't know how it's going to play.

Cinematical: How did you happen to work together on this film?

Wash: We're partners - outside of filmmaking, I mean - and we've also worked collaboratively a lot. It works well because sometimes you roll out of bed at 7AM and have a great idea, and you can start working immediately.

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Richard: Also as filmmakers we are both so passionate about our work -- I can't imagine being with someone who isn't this passionate about film too. How could you understand each other? We both share that passion, so there isn't that conflict.

Cinematical: Wash, you started out directing adult films. How did you make the transition from adult film director to serious director with a film in competition at Sundance?

Wash: When I came to Hollywood I was 28 years old - too old to do film school, and I didn't have the money for that anyhow. So in order to learn how to direct, and to pay the bills so I could work on other projects, I directed some gay adult films. I'm not ashamed of anything I've done -- I learned a hell of a lot more directing adult films thand I would have learned as a PA.

Cinematical: Do you think it was easier for you to make that transition as a male director, than for, say, a female porn actress to make that change?

Wash: Yes, definitely.

Richard: I see it more as an issue of quality, that people tend to view adult film as lacking in quality. Not so much about the content.

Cinematical: In Quinceanera, both Magdalena and Carlos are rejected by their families. What was your intended message around that?

Wash: We wanted to be about all these different cultures colliding,and we wanted to celebrate this supportive family within the larger extended family that had rejected them (Carlos and Magdalena). It was also about religious tolerance, and acceptance.

Cinematical: The character of Uncle Tomas was all about love and acceptance - was that a deliberate statement to include that aspect into the film?

Richard: Yes, absolutely. Tomas doesn't judge, he just loves everyone.

Cinematical: The film also addresses the issue of racism, especially in the way that the gay white men completely objectify the Hispanic guys they have sex with. Can you talk about this a little?

Wash: I think that men - not just gay men, but straight men as well - tend to commoditize people and view them as objects for sex. And that part of the film was about that, the way people use each other sexually that way.

Cinematical: But Gary really did like Carlos - he was just financially dependant.

Richard: Right, and ultimately he wasn't willing to give up that comfort.

Cinematical: Let's talk a little about the gentrification of Echo Park you show in the film. Is that something you've seen, liviing in that neighborhood?

Wash: Coming from England as I do, I think there is definitely a class system here in the States that isn't openly discussed or admitted to. People are divided along lines of race, sexuality, money. People don't like to think or admit that it's there, but it absolutely is.

Richard: Yes, and even with the sisters (Magdalena's mother and aunt), her mother is very traditional, married an old-fashioned preacher, while her aunt married a wealthy man who buys a bigger house every five years. Materialism versus spiritualism.

Cinematical: The film has been getting great reception at every screening, are you excited about the reception it's getting?

Richard: It's been great, fantastic. We're just glad that audiences are responding to the film in a postive way.