Tepache

When I was a little kid in the mid-90s, my family of five lived in a two-bedroom apartment in Mesquite, Texas. It might not sound like the ideal living situation for a six-year-old boy trying to come into his own with two sisters and busy parents in a small space. But, I loved it because living there meant that I was neighbors with a real knight! At least, he was a real knight to me. Our neighbor, Cesar, worked at the Medieval Times dinner theater in Dallas. As a young boy obsessed with King Arthur and Don Quixote, it was awesome to have The Green Knight as a neighbor. He would always give my family extra tickets to see him fight against whatever villain was trying to take over the realm! And most of the time, he would win. Cesar lived with his girlfriend, Cherelle. Cesar and Cherelle made an interesting pair: a Medieval Times Knight and an Exotic Dancer. As a filmmaker, I’ve always wanted to use this couple as a basis for characters in a movie, and I wanted their imagined story to feel as complex, interesting, and human as Cesar and Cherelle were. This is that story: How a grown man’s fantasy job becomes escapism fuel. Toxic machismo is disguised as chivalry. A Medieval Times Knight sees his girlfriend, an exotic dancer, as a woman he needs to protect because of his own pride and possessiveness. Instead of living in the here and now, he is always in his head, imagining a future with her that will never be.

As a Latinx filmmaker, I want to tell stories that honor my ancestors, resonate with my family, and represent the people I’ve known. The original green knight of my childhood, Cesar, is Latinx. There is so much of his life that feels emblematic of the Mexican immigrant experience to me. Not only in his style: something we lovingly call “paisa” in Mexican culture, but his journey began as someone who came to America to survive and thrive by chasing the American Dream. There is also so much about Cesar’s life that is utterly ordinary, hardly inspiring or admirable. The stories of ordinary Latinx people deserve to be told. Not every character has to be exemplary. An immigrant story doesn’t have to be about the “extraordinary” members of a group who achieve their dreams and become shining examples for their community. In using Cesar as inspiration to tell Gael’s story, I hope this short film will resonate with well-intentioned dreamers and would-be knights who do not often get to see their stories onscreen.