La Mesa

La Mesa explores the intersections of memory, identity and queer desire. It recreates fragmented and romanticised stories of a childhood in rural Mexico as told by the filmmaker’s father. These disjointed vignettes are interwoven with queered reenactments of scenes from popular culture. The filmmaker casts himself in the old Mexican films and American Westerns he grew up watching with his family in California. He appears as the romantic lead opposite the male actors, including Pedro Infante, Mexican national hero and the filmmaker’s childhood crush. By centering queer desire in his family’s history, Garcia Gomez validates his childhood experiences while challenging popular representations of masculinity as well as traditional notions of power and vulnerability.