Notes

I’m excited to share that our short film Bibi has been accepted to the 11th Annual @SeattleLatinoFilmFestival (one of the most respected Latino film festivals in the country supporting American LatinX Filmmakers & Ibero/Latin American films and the only Latino film festival in the Northwest region of the U.S.)!
AND THAT’S NOT ALL…”Bibi” has also been selected as the Opening Night short film kicking off the festival next Thursday, October 3rd. YAY! This is a tremendous honor! Thank you SLFF and congratulations to everyone that worked on this heartfelt short film about love, hope and forgiveness. Stay tuned for more exciting film festival news!
#BibiShortFilm #SeattleLatinoFilmFestival #LatinxFilmmakers #OliveProductionsandPublicity #PatchesEntertainment #SPLC #Justice4forMigrantWomen #BlancaValdezCasting #SiSePuede

BIG WIN!

Icebox won Best Primetime Program – Specials, Movies & Limited Series. Anthony Gonzalez also won for Best Young Actor – Television! I was so honored to be a nominee for Best Supporting Actor. The night was filled with uplifting speeches, beautiful people of all backgrounds, and for us, an opportunity to reunite and speak about our important film. Our director Daniel Sawka gave a gracious speech that included this powerful quote: “What is happening at these facilities today
is a disgrace and something that needs to stop!”

After the Vice president created his own optics with a visit to a camp that is concentrating mostly Central American immigrants seeking refuge and one day before #ICEraids are set to start across the country, these hashtags were trending: #ThingsJesusNeverSaid & #FakeChristian

Just from an empathy perspective, his demeanor and conclusions seemed self-serving, political, and he (and his guests) didn’t engage in a way that seemed right for the situation. Clearly many felt the same way even if it was meant to have a different narrative based on his comments.

Thanks to the upside-down world we’re living in where “FAKE” now usually means real, or just something critical of you- I started to wonder if Bad or just Not Christian was more adequate. But, who are we to say what religion a person follows? After all, some were quick to label our previous president as a person of a completely different faith than he follows. We can however look at how much a religion is flaunted or used. Mike Pence uses it more than anyone I know, even in his position where separation of church and state should be exercised. What he’s been willing to not criticize in the President makes for a clear case of hypocrisy. Perhaps looking at what Christianity teaches, we can understand why these hashtags were immediately popular today.

Just some thoughts as I was reading and thinking about all this today:

Most men, women and children being concentrated in cages are #NativeAmerican & Christians (Because #Invasion #genocide #conversion #ByTheSword – Because they were labeled as less than human back then. Some called “Animals” even now)

The #13Colonies were formed to be free from The #ChurchofEngland

Mary, Joseph and Jesus were #Refugees, and even physically speaking, Jesus looks more like the people behind the fences than those who look like Vice President Mike Pence or Donald Trump.

You can look at it either way:

“whatever you DID for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you DID for me.”

“whatever you DID NOT DO for one of the least of these, you did NOT DO for me.”

More to the point: “When a foreigner resides with you in your land, you must not oppress him. You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God. “

Ultimately it doesn’t matter what faith you follow- you can just be GOOD and kind to others. If you need a religion to help you with that- find it!

Some people are posting this meme as a direct response to people being outraged about the treatment of “the illegals”. It was bothering me over the weekend and it was made worse by the fact that my daughter had to be without her mother for a few days. But who would purposefully put this out there and who would give this a like, love, happy or sad face?

A woman and a child in a sleeping bag on the street. I have a wife who is someone’s daughter and we have a daughter. I can relate. It only includes 21 words. It mentions “democrats”, “American Family” and repeats “American”. I looked into the source and I was not surprised at the hate, bigotry, violence, and false information they spread (their header and profile pic was also trying a little too hard).

As I watched my daughter taking a nap with a couple of her stuffed animals that she had gently covered up to sleep, I began to break apart this meme. only democrats could be outraged about the mistreatment of those being refereed to as basically ‘others’? non-democrats shouldn’t or don’t care? It doesn’t try to defend the “treatment” as much as it makes the case that you can’t care about everyone.

The people

Then, being a photographer, I started to think about the image being used. I studied the subjects. You can’t really see their faces. I started to think about the image of the father and daughter who had recently drowned while trying to reach the U.S. There was even video of them. We later found out who they were; Óscar Alberto Martinez Ramírez and his 23-month old daughter, Valeria. We got to see a family portrait of them. So, I kept looking at this meme. Maybe they are sisters. Did the person behind the meme also take the picture while trying to help this “American Family”? Where was it taken?

Curiosity

Then I noticed a faint copyright on the bottom left corner. It was very hard to read. I decided to find out. Long story short- I found photographer John Rudoff. For some reason I felt I should write to him. I had no idea what sort of response I’d get. I wanted to ask him about the image being used with this meme. Just wanted to understand his involvement and any clarification on the subjects. To my shock, I received an almost instant response. It made my day. It brought me tears.

Photographer

John thanked me for reaching out and explained that “It has been going on for years despite a formal take down notice from FB.” and he added “I don’t like this any more than you do”. After my emotional reply with more background about me and my feelings towards these images, he added the following full answer in case there was any question by anyone about how he feels:

“Friends: I have now been made aware by at least 10 different people that a photo of mine is being widely shared in a way such as to disparage refugees, and to attack American attempts to offer aid or solace to refugees from other countries. The photo is one I made during homelessness protests in Portland, Oregon, in my work as a photojournalist. It shows a mother and a young child asleep on a blanket on a street. (I am not re-posting the photo here.) I wish to state categorically, unequivocally, and for/on the record that such use of my photo is unlawful and is theft. (Often my copyright notice in the lower left corner has been cropped out.) It does not, repeat does not express my own attitudes towards refugees, which are plainly evident in work I have posted here over the years. The despicable comments that I have seen attached to the stolen uses of my photo are repugnant to me, and as a humanitarian and as a photojournalist, I reject them absolutely. I am sorry about the inappropriate and unauthorized usages of my photo, and on behalf of the decent people of America I apologize to those who are properly affronted by its use.”

I know a little bit about empathy and that last part really means so much. He hadn’t done anything wrong. He’d been doing the exact opposite. The people in those image were actually protesting in support of homeless people. They were actually concerned about where people slept, or if they could even sleep. Yet, he was apologizing and saying that I had every right to be “affronted” by the meme.

Knowing more about those people on the image made me feel so much better. They were safe. They were heroes! They were actually actively trying to improve the lives of homeless people. I was right to also worry about them as much as to also be outraged at the “treatment” of other brave and vulnerable families. The people using their image as just a prop were disrespecting them, the photographer, people who care, and other “Americans”.

THAT MEME LOST ITS POWER. I started to feel some joy.

SUDDENLY!

It was actually at this moment that a message came in from my manager. He said to call him because he had “really incredible news”. I had just received the incredible honor of being nominated for an Imagen Award for my supporting role in the film Icebox on HBO. The film’s subject? A Central AMERICAN boy’s journey through the detention system we’ve been reading so much about. I played his uncle. I helped tell a story that is putting a spotlight on those like him living in the shadows (or “al bajo-bajo” as he says).

Affirmation

You can work from your heart and turn on some light even when some try to darken your existence or those around you. No human is Illegal. Odds are that if you really care about people on the streets, you don’t care what streets and if you care about children, you care about all children. So much can be done with 21 words and a stolen image. Guess what’s being used by our enemies these days to create division? Why are we our own enemy as well?

A lot more can be done with a little empathy.

Notes

The Imagen Foundation has a mission that lines up with everything that has driven me to work as an actor.  Icebox is the film that’s best used and challenged my skills. To be nominated as a film and individually with my castmates Anthony Gonzalez and, Genesis Rodriguez, is a real honor.

I look forward to joining our production team and the rest of the nominees for a celebration of very important projects and great performances. Manuel is a character I hold very dear and close to my heart. Living in the shadows and facing uncertainty and fear, he still makes the tough decisions with the best of intentions.