La Mesa

Experimental exploration of memory identity and queer desire It recreates fragmented and romanticised stories of a childhood in rural Mexico as told by the filmmakers 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 filmmakers childhood crush By centring queer desire in his familys history Garcia Gomez validates his childhood experiences while challenging popular representations of masculinity as well as traditional notions of power and vulnerability