The Rock

Double Feature

Summertime
Directed by: Carlos López Estrada

*If there are multiple viewers in your household we’re asking that you opt-in for the Group Tickets rate if possible.

Summertime

Director: Carlos López Estrada

2020 | USA | 95m | English

In connection with Outfest Fusion’s celebration of the power of the spoken word, we are thrilled to present Carlos López Estrada’s SUMMERTIME, a film co-written by its sprawling cast of young Los Angeles poets, including queer BIPOC voices.

Over the course of a hot summer day in Los Angeles, the lives of 25 young Angelenos intersect. A skating guitarist, a tagger, two wannabe rappers, an exasperated fast-food worker, a limo driver — they all weave in and out of each other’s stories. Through poetry they express life, love, heartache, family, home, and fear. One of them just wants to find someplace that still serves good cheeseburgers.

Starring: Tyris Winter, Marquesha Babers, Maia Mayor, Austin Antoine, Bryce Banks, Amaya Blankenship, Bene’t Benton, Raul Herrera, Mila Cuda, Gordon Ip, Jason Alvarez, Hanna Harris, Anna Osuna, Walter Finnie, Olympia Miccio, Paolina Acuña-González, Madyson Park, Xochitl Morales, Zach Perlmutter

*This film is only available in the U.S.

SCREENING APRIL 16-20, 2021

If there are multiple viewers in your household we’re asking that you opt-in for the Group Tickets rate if possible.

Carlos López Estrada

Carlos’s debut film, BLINDSPOTTING, premiered opening night at Sundance 2018 and subsequently sold to Lionsgate for a theatrical release. Carlos was nominated by the DGA for Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film. His second film, SUMMERTIME, premiered opening night of Sundance 2020 and will be released next year. For television, Carlos directed an episode of FX/Marvel’s LEGION and is developing an original show. He began his career directing music videos for musicians like Billie Eilish, Father John Misty, Thundercat and Flying Lotus, Carly Rae Jepsen, Clipping and Passion Pit. In 2012, he won a Latin Grammy for an animated music video he directed for artists Jesse & Joy. He recently joined Walt Disney Studios, where he Co-Directed RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON and is slated to direct the live-action adaptation of Disney’s Robin Hood.
Director's Statement
About 9 months ago, I had the privilege of sitting through a spoken word poetry workshop featuring 25 young performers from Los Angeles. I left the event feeling invigorated after seeing a group of diverse young artists expressing so eloquently many of the issues that had been spinning, unanswered, in my mind. Their voices felt vibrant and necessary. This was an experience I will never forget. I met the director of the organization they perform under and presented the idea to collaborate with all 25 of them in a narrative film project. The concept was to allow these poets to develop and workshop their poetry into an interconnected narrative that explored their relationship to their city. Each poet would write and perform their own scene and we would all work together piecing this urban mosaic over the next 5 months. This became an extraordinary exercise in collaborative storytelling.

I would be lying if I said that this experiment wasn’t the scariest thing I have ever done, but I would also be lying if I said that it was not the most rewarding creative experience of my life. Everything about the process was unexpected, surprising and reaffirming. The honesty that these young artists brought to this movie is the kind of honesty that, I believe, has the power to inspire real positive change. I felt fortunate to be at that workshop and I now feel fortunate to share their stories through this movie.

I hope you enjoy Summertime.

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