S1: It's time for KPBS Midday Edition. On today's Arts and Culture show , we take you from the stage to film. I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think. There's a deep connection between the Kumeyaay and the Tijuana River valley and estuary.
S2: The Tijuana estuary is an indigenous place , right ? It's indigenous land. It is connected to the indigenous people , to the Kumeyaay.
S1: We'll tell you about a new play exploring that. Then we'll talk about the Film Out festival's 25 year celebration. That's ahead on Midday Edition. The Tijuana River valley and estuary carries a lot of historical and cultural significance , but for decades the river has suffered from environmental degradation , rampant pollution and an ongoing sewage crisis. This weekend , the new Kumeyaay play Shylock , which movie will tell the story of the land illuminating the river's resilience and a path towards healing ? I'm joined now by Johnny Bear Contreras. He's a public artist , cultural bear and founder of the Ayaan Foundation , which is presenting the play. He also chairs the San Pasqual Cultural Committee. Johnny. Welcome , Halka. Halka.
S3: Glad to have you here.
S1: Also with us is Shanaya Silman. She's currently a PhD candidate at Cornell University and a graduate research fellow working with the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve. Shinsha. Welcome to Midday Edition.
S2: Thank you for having me.
S1: So glad to have you here. So , okay. The title of the play translates to Where Lightning was Born. Tell us what that play is about and how it first came to be. Johnny.
S4: Oh , I'd love to. Um , starting with the play. Uh , it's emphasizing , of course , what you mentioned earlier , the pollution and the degradation of of that area , the Tijuana estuary , which is such an important part of , um , the flight patterns for some of the , some of the local birds. And it's a stopover. It's one of very few , which always , um , makes me remember some of the stories I was told , you know , coming up through the different , um , parts of the reservation on reservation as well. Sometimes it's important to understand the land that we're on. The Kumeyaay land that we're on isn't just the reservation boundaries. Our stories are oriented and connected to the water's edge , to the Colorado River. And that's all the Kumeyaay or Kuma , which is the Kumeyaay of Baja California. And I bring this up to say this. The play not only emphasizes this particular place , the Tijuana estuary , but it talks about people that come from a place that people that are still here in this place. And I think it's important for us to have that contemporary point of view , to see us in that light , to see the Kumeyaay people here in San Diego. You know , as I say , wandering around but meandering through , I do wander. And , uh , so that's what the play is about. It's giving. It's giving place to , you know , the culture and the folks and and the stories. An incredible story that comes together. Bring brings all these different elements together , goes into our customs and traditions , but it also has a contemporary , um , contemporary depictions. You know , it starts with , um , talking about some of the interplay between family members and , and I think most , most anyone who's going to be able to connect with it , which is , which is so important. And certainly part of what this particular playwright does so well , which is , uh , Mabelle Reynoso. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. You know , the Kumeyaay are connected to the river and estuary in so many ways , as you mentioned , whether it's , you know , geographically or through creation. So can you talk more about some of those layers and the Kumeyaay nation's deep connections to the land and the water , because there's an origin story there even.
S4: Yeah. Our , um , our creator is called ha or Maya ha. And so our word for water is ha. So , uh , when we , if we were to summons the creator and say , hey , you know , I want to , you know , I want to rap out with you. Uh , you know , my hot and foul would be , you know , creator , be here with me. The story that's told , which takes , incidentally , takes three days in order for you to tell the story. Three days. So that that process is is not often it doesn't happen like it used to happen back in the day. So the point of connection is water has always been from the very beginning. And I always emphasized the word ha. And in some of the different aspects of the creation story , the creators come out of the water. One eventually returns back to the water and he's re summoned to come back to the water. Which is interesting enough. Here on the Sdsu campus. My last piece that I installed is I'm a public Artist. Sculptor is a Maya. The actual piece. The name of the piece is Maya. Humble return of the Kumeyaay creator. Wow. And so. Water. The emphasis of it is our family names. Our connectivity would have been described by these different waterways. These confluences of water and land that come together. And when we would have moved through this area back in the day. Your family name like Weir y Polk , you would have known geographically where this family was from. And that's what I think is some of the inner some of the the exchanges and the interplay of this , this , this play , I think that's going to be real apparent. But great question , great question.
S1: Well , Shania , you know , the play focuses on the revitalization of the river , which is your expertise.
S2: Yes , I research how states and local governments in particular , worked through the process of transferring land to tribal communities. Right. So what are the different ways that that happens ? How long does the process take ? What are some of the opportunities and challenges that come up ? What are the also other important factors that can consider like political will and things like that community push back and really try to get to the nuts and bolts of how how people are figuring out how to do this work. Because there is no there's no guidance , there's no phone call or hotline. Right. Like people are just trying to figure out what's going to work in context with the history. So that's what I research broadly. And then at the estuary , I am supporting them and their acknowledgement and effort to really live up to the tri national identity. So for a long time , the estuary has been known as a binational estuary binational watershed because it sits along the international border of Mexico and the United States , but it also is smack dab in the middle of the Kumeyaay Nation. Right ? And ancestral territory. And so how do we see all three nations and the management and stewardship of this place ? And so I'm working with the various agencies that are in charge of managing this landscape alongside their partners in Mexico and with their their contacts in and across Kumeyaay communities to see what does that mean ? How do we live up to the idea of being a tri national landscape ? Yeah.
S1: That's interesting. And so you're going to be part of a panel after the play to speak more about , you know , the stewardship and restoration of the space.
S2: I mean , part of being able to protect this place in perpetuity , which is the goal of conservation , right , is to actively take care of it. And so there are long standing management programs , stewardship programs at the reserve. Currently , one of them is their long term ecological restoration project , which is just entered a new phase. And so they've restored one portion of the slough or wetland , and now they're moving on to the next section. And so they're slowly , over time , trying to restore as much of the wetland ecosystem as possible , while also working through very complicated , um , environmental conditions such as the sewage crisis. And also climate change is impacting the site and things like that. And so I'm hoping actually through the conversations that this play , you know , brings about , it's one thing that is hard to do sometimes in restoration is think about also how it affects people. Right ? There's so much focus on are the plants okay. Are the birds okay ? Are the fish okay. Which is important. Um , but these landscapes are connected to people. These landscapes are important to people. And so how does the Restoration , connect to those people , place relationships. And so the play , I hope , is able to stir that conversation. And we're able to explore that through the panel talk afterwards. And that is something that the reserve itself is actively exploring , is how to continue to connect community throughout the process of restoration , both the kind of , you know , planning , but also the implementation and the long term stewardship , and really making sure that all that work is reflective of the wider community that is connected to that place.
S1: How realistic right is restoration , given that it's not really the people who have like contaminated and polluted this , this , this water , this area. Right ? I mean , these are things that are happening between countries and infrastructure. And I mean , it's much bigger than that.
S2: It's very complicated and multi-layered. Right. And even if you do restoration that doesn't it's it's it's dynamic. Right. Even what you put in still has to be taken care of. Will still change. Right. It's not it's not like putting cement into the ground. Right. It's kind of like planting a tree. Right. That in and of itself is good. But you all have to make sure that the tree is alive , right ? And so you have to do the work to keep it alive. And things may shift in its environment that make it either harder or easier. Right. And what are other components that need to be with it in order to ensure that it's thriving in that space ? And so restoration is tricky because there's always the question of what are you restoring to. Right. What are you restoring for and who are you restoring for ? Right. Um , and so I think in this particular context , you know , the Tijuana River estuary , there's definitely a focus on some of the mechanics , right ? So it's a wetland. The water flows through it and there's a lot of sedimentation that builds up. And so a good chunk of it is about making sure that the water actually has a place that different parts and tributaries aren't getting blocked off. Right. So being able to remove some of that setup so the water freely is able to flow and connect to the Pacific Ocean. So some of it is just mechanically making sure that the water goes through. Because all the plants , all the animals , all the fish , you know , that are keen to that particular kind of freshwater saltwater mix. Right. Need that water to , to be able to flow freely. But it's another question of of what what does what does healthy mean in this environment. Right. That's that's a harder question to ask and answer. Because even doing all this work , thinking about the flows , thinking about what types of plants to replant as things are being moved and , and infrastructure is being added to better , you know , facilitate that , right ? You can't ignore the fact that there's still a water quality issue. Right. And that is fixed on a different time scale. Right. And so that's where it becomes multi-layered. There's things you can do in a two year , five year timeline , but sewage treatment plants and things like that take a 1020 year timeline , right to type of upgrades or expansions , not to negate the political negotiations that happen when you're talking about two countries who already have tense relationships having to work together , right , to to solve some of these larger infrastructural questions. So restoration in this place is complicated , but I don't think that means that we should shy away from it. Right ? It's about doing what we can to reconnect not only water and water flows , but people , because I think it's that disconnection that is contributing to the degradation. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. So this play , it officially premieres this weekend.
S4: Uh , it's , you know , there's the pictorial value to it , right where they can see. They see place. And it's all seeing and seeing the folks from Greater San Diego seeing them together in this. You know , speaking on another area that is very much part of all of us. I'm hoping to see. I'm hoping folks see the commonalities and they walk away with with the connection and some questions , you know , some questions like , what the heck is this ? What are we talking about ? And , you know , and and for my , my brethren , uh , the Kumeyaay generations , um , I'm hoping that they see the , the quality and the availability of this critical path through the arts. And this is where at different times where these things are most valued and most important. And the time we're in now , in my opinion , is it's absolute. We have to have the arts need to be at the forefront as things are identified and we move and it's brought together because the arts will always be there. You know , you can be an artist with a nail scratching on the pavement. I was trying to think of what what would work. What would I will do. And so , I mean , anything you could take rocks and put them together. So it's not the availability of the materials , it's the availability of what's inside the individual. So I hope I hope to spark that. Those types of things sparked from the play this weekend. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Tanisha , I'll give you the final word here.
S2: Oh all right. Thank you , I hope. You know , in my research work what I , what I try to emphasize and I hope this play is able to , you know , equally communicate is that , you know , the Tijuana estuary is an indigenous place , right ? It's indigenous land. It is connected to the indigenous people , to the Kumeyaay. And that that's important to see parks and open space as that as indigenous places , and get people to think differently about parks when they think of them first as indigenous land , and see what questions , what curiosities that sparks and conversation and then , you know. Working alongside the the large staff that is , you know , California parks , that is the Taiwan Estuary Foundation , um , and many other , you know , conservation related agencies and partners. Is is hoping to also , you know , be able to talk about the estuary and not focus solely on the sewage crisis. It is an important and and critical issue. But the Tijuana estuary provides so much , right , just as a place to be and connect with water , connect with a variety of of other than human beings , but also just just a place where storytelling can be so much more powerful. What it's like to to bring people to place and talk about what this place means to them is something that the staff is very , you know , invested in and continuing and hoping. This play also gets more interest in people coming down to the reserve. And it can be a little bit of a difficult drive. Some people get lost , but , you know , it sparks , you know , interest to come and see the place for themselves and write and see that while it has its complications , it's still very beautiful and inspiring place and and that it'll continue to be that , you know , as long as we keep people connected to it. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , art is always a great vehicle to start conversations and and to discuss ideas. So I've been speaking with Johnny Bear Contreras , public artist , cultural Bear and founder of the Ian Foundation , and Cinzia Silman , PhD candidate at Cornell University and graduate research fellow with the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve. The play should look which movie premieres at Spark Studio Saturday , August 23rd with showings at one in 5 p.m. the event itself is free and will be followed by a panel discussion. You can find more details on KPBS. Johnny and Tanisha , thank you so much for your time. I appreciate you both.
S2: Thank you for having us. Absolutely.
S4: Absolutely.
S1: Coming up , film out. San Diego's LGBTQ Plus Film Festival turns 25. So we take a look back on how it all started.
S5: Well , this all started when I was at San Diego State doing my masters , and I decided to do this festival as a thesis project.
S1: We'll also preview this year's festival , which kicks off tonight. More when Midday Edition returns. Welcome back to Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman , Phil Mount. San Diego's LGBTQ plus film festival turns 25 this year , so KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando sat down with Film Out's current program director Michael McGuigan and its original founder , Joe Farrell , to talk about this important milestone. Here's that conversation.
S6: Michael , you're on the eve of the 25th anniversary of Film Out.
S7: I can't believe the last 21 years since I've been involved to Mumbai. And here we are at the this milestone event , which I think is we're selling tickets better than we ever have. I don't know if the 25th anniversary has anything to do with it , but we've already made more in ticket sales than we did all of last year.
S6: And with us today is Joe Farrell , and he is here to give us a little bit of history on the festival , because he's the one who started it all. So , Joe , remind people of how this all began.
S5: Well , this all started when I was at San Diego State doing my masters , and I decided to do this festival as a thesis project. There was no gay queer film festival. And whereas I did my research , I found out that the last time that there was something was in 1984 , and it was put on by the men's center , and it was at the Ken , and I decided that I wanted to do this thesis project. First of all , my thesis was about identifying a queer sensibility in otherwise unclear films , if you will. Things like , well , first of all , Terence Davies , the first time I saw his Distant Voices still lives. I knew he was a gay filmmaker , even though there was nothing about the film that was gay. So I decided to explore this a little bit and went back through a history of queer films , gay films. And as I was doing this , I decided that it would be a good time to start a film festival. Little did I know what that meant. Uh , so it's , uh , there's a there's a lot of moving parts for a film festival , but we managed to do it at the Cannes the first year and then the Museum of Photographic Arts the second year , and then I moved from San Diego. But the festival still continues under Michael McGuigan.
S6:
S5: They it was it was hit and miss , crowds were very small and the films to pick from were were very few compared to what Michael gets now.
S6: And Joe , when you started it.
S5: I didn't want to focus on only those kinds of films. You know , I would throw in directors who were gay in their films with this gay sense queer sensibility , as I called it in my thesis. So the idea was to bring all of this together. The first year of the festival , I showed some gay silent films. So I wanted to to have a foundation with films like Salomé and Unchained Amour. So that's how that all started.
S6: And that's really one of the things I love about the festival. It's that it's always been about more than just LGBTQ identity films. From the beginning , it embraced what you call the queer sensibility. So , Joe , explain what you mean by queer sensibility.
S5: So I looked at the works of directors that I knew were were gay , but that didn't make outwardly gay films. People like Terence Davies first film , I saw His Distant Voices , Still Lives was just such a case. And that kind of got me thinking that there was this underlying queer sensibility , especially in the time when you had the Hays Code where you couldn't talk about homosexuality and you couldn't mention it , so filmmakers would have to work to get their ideas across to like minded people.
S6:
S7: I mean , I would love to , to do that. What you did was , like , just because the film is not LGBTQ , doesn't mean that you like having a gay actor and a straight film , or a gay director like you mentioned earlier , but I kind of do that with keeping it alive with the films that we do for the monthly screenings. As far as showing more genre cinema , which is really more up my alley , that's what we've tried to keep that I mean , I'm totally fine with just doing that and not doing the festival , just keeping the monthlies and doing that.
S6: And this year , in addition to the films , you have a panel called queer Joy on screen.
S7: They had more space , but there really isn't any space to do it at MoMA. Then we discovered like 50ft down the hallway , there was this empty room set up like an auditorium that you can see maybe 50 to 100 people. So when filmmaker actor Ben Bower reached out saying he'd be interested in doing a panel and moderated it , I jumped at the chance. And we just lined up some filmmakers to be part of the panel.
S6:
S7:
S8: Bunga bunga bunga bunga bunga bunga.
S7: Called Melhor Amigo , which translates to The Best Friend. And it's it's a perfect opening night movie. It's light is fun. It's fluff. That's what we went with. We were , you know , and I do have to say that we were going to have every intention of bringing the director and the two lead actors in from Brazil. We were going to fly them in and put them up. But with the current political situation between the United States and Brazil , the two presidents going back and forth , there's an issue with them as far as maybe being denied entry or detained or whatever the reason could be. They were a little bit , you know , it was a little it was a thing. So it was tricky. So we decided not to. But the opening night short film called Mean Goals , the entire cast is coming for that. So there'll be some representation.
S6:
S7:
S9: I have a twin brother , and he , uh , he passed away. Roman.
S10: Roman.
S11: You need help.
S9: You need help. Well.
S11: That's true.
S7: It was a big hit at Sundance , and I thought , ah , they're gonna get distribution. And they did , but I wasn't sure when that was going to happen. So luckily I think it's pretty much getting a nationwide release maybe two weeks after the festival. So I'm glad. This is kind of a , I think , their last festival. So I'm glad that we're ending their festival run as a closing night movie. The producer will be there , so. And someone from the studio that I'm excited. It's really is a quality. And I think that's the film that's probably going to take a lot of , um , awards home. That's all I'll say , though.
S6: And the festival doesn't just showcase features. You also have quite a few short films.
S7: I know a lot of other festivals have block after block after block after block of shorts , and we we're only four days , so we , we don't really we can't do that. So I kind of have to narrow it down to one block which is usually ten shorts. And then we try to show a short before every feature.
S6:
S7:
S12:
S13: Oh , God.
S14: Maybe it's part of the process.
S13: The sucky part.
S14: Well , at least you're consistent. You always get stuck before you come up with something totally brilliant.
S13: Hold on a second.
S14: My little brother.
S7: And it's a drama about his character. He just ends up relationship , and then he decides. Well , what ? How come my relationships aren't lasting ? What's the issue ? So he goes back and interviews , like 6 or 8 of his past relationships. And that's basically what the movie is. But it's a world premiere and they're all coming. So excited. And then Plain Clothes is the Russell Tovey film that kind of is kind of the hot ticket on the festival circuit still. So that's on Saturday. I'm excited for that.
S15: Please , please. What did I mean ? I guess I'm under arrest.
S7: I'm happy with the selection this year. There's something for everybody. The only thing I wish , Beth , is that there were more genre films this year. There weren't any feature films that were that were horrible. I'm like , what is going on ? I mean , a few shorts we have , but I was like , oh no. Because the past two years we've been lucky was swallowed two years ago , and last year there was a zombie outside. So those are decent feature films. So nothing this year.
S6: Maybe the real world is just too scary. Mhm.
S13: Mhm.
S6: And Michael , in this politically charged climate , what do you see the role of the festival right now. Because it does seem like a very challenging time for a lot of people.
S7: It is challenging. Um , I've always said I try not to make film all political at all. So I just want people to come to be entertained. I'm kind of. And I'm kind of gearing away from a lot of the films that were really , like , in-your-face aggressive to deal with what the current political climate , except for Wendy , one documentary. But I want , you know , I want people just to come and to get away from that for at least four days and just come in and enjoy cinema. That that's what my goal is. And , you know , it's it's interesting. We're not sure what the future of film is going to hold after this year. You know , I did some research the other day and there are only , I think , I think 171 LGBTQ film festivals left. And I think when we started this , there were like five , six , 700. So it's it's changing. So I don't know how we're going to evolve. We need to completely reassess the entire organization to see what we can do to kind of stay relevant. So that's what's going to happen after this festival. We'll see.
S5: Well , you know , that's interesting because cinema , film , video , it's all changed. It used to be that you couldn't see any of these things anywhere except a gay film festival , but that has changed a lot with , with streaming , with the , with , well , not so much DVDs anymore. But that's part of what I think Michael is going to have to struggle with is where are we now ? Where are we in the fact of , you know , things are more accessible , more readily available.
S6: And Joe , you haven't completely divorced yourself from the festival.
S5: You know , a few things that did well. But seeing what Michael has done with it and Michael and company has just been wonderful. It's just been an amazing thing. I could never imagine it would have gone this long or been this successful.
S6: Well , I want to thank you both very much for talking about film out and giving us a little look back on its history.
S5: Well , thank you. It was a pleasure.
S7: Thanks , Beth.
S1: That was Beth Accomando speaking with Film Out's program director Michael McQueen and founder Joe Pirelli. Film out kicks off tonight at the Nat that is the Natural History Museum. Then it'll run through Sunday at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park.
