After being asked to be "Maid" of Honor for his sister and throw the bachelorette party, Johnny, a goofy alpha male out of money and out of options turns to the only guys he knows he can afford...Mexican day laborers.

Interview with Writer/Director Tony Estrada

Watch Bridesman here:

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

We made this movie because we had something to say about family. We had an idea that we felt could make people smile and we went with it. That's always one of my personal greatest intentions is: how do I get people to smile? It's one of the great thrills I get out of life. On a more 30,000 foot view, as a team, we want this to movie to show who we are. Establish our distinct voice so moving forward people know the type of movies we're interested in making.

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

The goal I've always stated in my mind was "if my mom and grandma like this movie, I did something right". The reason I say that is because that would mean we made a movie that is accessible to everyone. I want people to laugh but most importantly feel the familial connection of this movie we hoped to create.

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

This movie is very personal to me. It's very much about my struggle to overcome my original and unwarranted disdain for my brother in law. I needed to come to terms with what it meant to actually be a good brother to my sister and what it meant to actually love someone of your family. I also wanted to talk about what "being a man" in today's society actually means and again, how I came to understand what it actually is. Understanding that it is not the overly macho front that I was putting on. That wasn't actually who I was or who I needed to be. I feel at one point or another we've all had to deal with some sort of issue like this and I feel like we've accomplished getting that feeling across. I'm very proud of that.

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?

It started with the idea of wanting Mexican Day Laborers as strippers because I thought that was hilarious. I needed a reason to get them to that point and a bachelorette party seemed perfect. From there, I started to dig deep and really started to explore how I was feeling when my sister was getting married and I put that on the page.

I knew I really wanted to show people what it's like to be a Mexican American today but without slapping people in the face with overt idealism or themes, which is another reason why we made the movie a comedy with a universal theme. I wanted people to watch this and be able to plug their familial experience in it. It was very important to me that this wasn't a "Latino" movie but a movie with Latino actors and a Latino director talking about family with pieces of Mexican American culture sprinkled throughout. We really hammered this idea home through each phase of development and production.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

The feedback we've received so far has been great. People have really connected with the movie and love how much fun it is. It's been a great to hear that because that's exactly the movie we wanted to make. From an improvement point of view, I felt that I personally could have spent even more time on the script and really dug even deeper into our characters.

Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?

I wouldn't say it's been surprising because we all kind of sensed both the positives of this movie and opportunities for improvement, though couldn't quite put a finger on it. We're very proud of the movie we made but like everything else, there's always room to improve and it's good to know specifically, what we can control to make it better when we push out the feature length.

What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?

With wearemovingstories.com, we hope that we can increase the awareness of our project so when we go out to our investors in a few months for the feature length that we can show them that this movie has a nice little following. We are so grateful that you are providing us with a platform to do that.

Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?

Right now, our direct focus is two things: 1) Ensuring that we get a good support base to show that the concept we have is proven and tried for both investors and actors that we plan to go out to for the feature. 2) Coverage of the film by both journalists and festivals to continue to move momentum forward.

What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?

My greatest hope for this movie is that after people watch this movie, they leave in a happier mood then when they sat down. I want people grinning ear to ear and feel like they really were touched by the movie's overarching message. That same feeling I feel after watching Singin' In the Rain where I just want to smile the rest of the day, that's the kind of feeling I want to create. If we can inspire people to feel that way, wow, what a great compliment that would be to us.

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

What does it mean to be part of a family?

Would you like to add anything else?

Danny Trejo is an incredibly gracious man and we're so grateful for everything he did for this movie. I cannot speak highly enough of what a genuinely great person he is who wants nothing more than to help people he cares about improve. He took this movie to another level that we could have never imagined and we're so incredibly grateful for everything he did both during production and after.

What are the key creatives developing or working on now?

Right now, we're working on Bridesman the feature. We're in the writing process and are eyeing a March/April 2017 shoot in New Mexico. We are all incredibly excited and thrilled with the progress on it and can't wait to get it out to you.

Interview: September 2016

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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela

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Bridesman

After being asked to be "Maid" of Honor for his sister and throw the bachelorette party, Johnny, a goofy alpha male out of money and out of options turns to the only guys he knows he can afford...Mexican day laborers.

Length:
18 mins

Director:
Tony Estrada

Producer:
Jona Ward, Margaret Ward and Peter Williams

Writer:
Tony Estrada

Key cast: Jeremy Andorfer-Lopez, Alexis B. Santiago, Timothy Ryan Cole and Danny Trejo

Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):

Funders:

Made in association with:

Ranch Hand Entertainment and From the Heart Productions

Release date:
May 6th, 2016