DIRECTORS' STATEMENT
Quinceañera is a reinvention of Kitchen Sink drama, fuelled by the racial, class, and sexual tensions of a working class Latino neighborhood in transition.
Kitchen Sink realism originated in British cinema in the late fifties and early sixties. The movies had adult storylines, gritty realism, political commentary, sardonic humor. They were always set in the North of England, the bastion of the industrial working class.
A new generation of directors - Lindsay Anderson, John Schlesinger, Tony Richardson (most of whom interestingly were gay) -gave the world tough dark films like "This Sporting Life", "A Kind of Loving", and most significantly for our movie, "A Taste of Honey".
These films encapsulated a kind of poetic realism that we wished to emulate in "Quinceañera". We wanted a film that celebrated the everyday; that was about small things that gradually grew large; a film that had politics that were oblique, humor that was unexpected, emotions that gained power though restraint; a film that transcended the ordinary. With this in mind, we attempted to recreate the Kitchen Sink drama.
So how did the North of England become Echo Park, Los Angeles?
In 2004 we were invited to be the official photographers for our next-door neighbors' Quinceañera. We were asked to do this in January even though the celebration itself was not until June. This considerable advance notice provided our first glimpse into the elaborate preparations that take place before a Quinceañera. Sunday after Sunday, as a dozen or so of the girl's school friends turned up to practice waltzing in the backyard, we gradually recognized the importance of the event for the girl concerned and her whole extended family.
On the big day, in a storefront church on Sunset Boulevard, the ceremony was breathtaking. All the girls were dressed in pink, the church was decorated with pink, garlands of pink flowers were everywhere. Our neighbor, suddenly revealed as a luminous beauty in tiara and silken dress, paraded down the aisle to the march from Aida. The court of young men, sporting tuxedos and number-1 cholo fades, stood by with masculine detachment; this day belonged to the girls. It was an undisguised celebration of the bloom of youth, of girlhood,
of purity - of virginity.
Although taking place in an Evangelical church, the event felt intrinsically Catholic, many images recalling the Virgin Mary. In fact, the Quinceañera predates Christianity by almost five hundred years, dating back to Aztec civilization where fifteen was considered the transitional age between girlhood and womanhood. And it is still alive and kicking in twenty-first century Echo Park.
In a neighborhood reception hall a few tequilas later, the formalities melted and the teenage energy harnessed by the Quinceañera broke loose. Reggaeton music replaced the Straussian waltzes and the dance floor was taken over by freak dancing, which looks to the untrained eye like intercourse. Four generations of an immigrant family went wild: uncles, cousins, grannies, podgy ex-gang guys dancing with toddlers, soused old Aunties flirting with young bucks. We thought - this was a movie!
On January 1st 2005 we started the year with a plan to make a film about our neighborhood. The Echo Park of Alison Anders "Mi Vida Loca" has changed a great deal in twelve years; the front line of gentrification - gays and artists - has moved in. Increasing real estate prices create conflict with the existing community, and a coded racial distinction emerges, never acknowledged by realtors when they tout "an up and coming area."
The idea of the Quinceañera movie now had a context - the ancient ritual would take place in a newly gentrifying neighborhood - and it would have an antecedent; it would be like "A Taste of Honey". The movie then grew very rapidly. We wrote it in three weeks, and miraculously scored a small budget to make it. The idea was to make the movie fast and cheap, to shoot everything within one mile of our front door. This was made possible by the incredible way the Latino community turned out to support this movie. People let us into their homes, turned up time after time to be extras, lent us Quinceañera dresses, cooked food for us, went to lengths that were phenomenal, and let us know when we were right on target, and, more importantly, when we were not.
We felt similarly blessed with our cast. After hearing Beverly Hills eighteen year-olds doing their best soap opera versions of "Magdalena" day after day, we woke up when Emily Rios walked in. Her youth, her toughness, her East L.A.-ness, and her incredible talent were undeniable. With Jesse Garcia, we also knew we had a real discovery and marvelled at the electricity and understated heroism he brought to the role of Carlos. Then when Chalo Gonzalez, veteran of such Sam Peckinpah movies as "The Wild Bunch" and "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia", sent in his SAG card so he could be in the movie, we knew we had struck gold.
So after nine months, QUINCEANERA became a reality. It's a film we're very proud of - Kitchen Sink Reggaeton style.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

RICHARD GLATZER (WRITER/DIRECTOR)
Over the past few years, Richard Glatzer has managed to establish himself as an indie filmmaker while simultaneously producing some of t.v.'s top reality hits.
Glatzer's first feature film "Grief" (1994) broke new ground by treating the AIDS crisis with depth and unexpected humor. "Grief" played in competition at Sundance and won top prizes at both the San Francisco Frameline Festival and the Torino Festival. Sight and Sound called it a 'deeply likeable movie' and said that it 'well deserves the cult status for which it seems destined.'
Originally intending to become an academic, Glatzer got his Ph.D. in American Literature from the University of Virginia and edited an acclaimed book of essays about Frank Capra. His television career includes MTV's "Osbournes", "Road Rules," and "Tough Enough." Along with Tyra Banks and Ken Mok, he created the reality sensation, "America's Next Top Model," currently in its sixth season. He is a Life Master tournament bridge player.

WASH WESTMORELAND (WRITER/DIRECTOR)
Westmoreland has made several acclaimed documentaries, features and TV shows. In 2004, he went undercover, leaving his political affiliations at the door, to write and direct a film about the tormented "Gay Republicans" that won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the AFI Festival and is now out on dvd.
Hailing from Leeds, England, Westmoreland earned his college degree in Politics at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and soon after moved to America. In 1994 he was living in New Orleans Louisiana, when he caught the film bug and made a short film "Squishy Does Porno!" that instantly gained cult status. Shortly afterwards he moved to LA and landed a job in the adult industry. In 2000 he made his debut feature film based on his observations of that industry, "The Fluffer", co-directed with Glatzer. The film premiered domestically at the Toronto Film Festival and internationally at Berlin. Premiere magazine selected it as one of the Top Ten Buried Treasures of the year.
NPR's Terry Gross declared herself a fan and brought Westmoreland onto Fresh Air, to discuss his body of work.

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