A Sundance Tale.

The lead actress, lead actor, and director of a Sundance film are doing a photo shoot in a "house" in a particularly busy section of town. At the end of the shoot, they group discover they have an hour to kill—an unusual occurence at Sundance, but it happens. Outside the "house," a phalanx of anti-fur protesters had gathered, and as it happens, the film's lead actress is wearing a full-length fur coat. It is decided to stay in the house, and perhaps, for fun, explore the swag section upstairs. The actor is welcomed in. The fur-wearing actress is ushered in. "No directors," the film's director is told at the top of the stairs.

The publicist shepherding this group of talent is understandably peeved, and heatedly explains to the swagmasters that these people can buy their own t-shirts, they are merely looking for a place to hang, they have not seen each other in over a year since the shooting, and so on. A brief consultation among swagmasters leads to the director's entry into the hallowed sanctum. As he and his actors move around to examine the swag, merely for laughs, the director notices one of the room's female attendants is dogging his every step.

"Are you following me?" he asks.

"Yes," she says.

"Could you stop?"

"No. You might steal something."

Were I to tell you that the film in question, and hence its actors and director, is Mexican, you'd say I was exaggerating to make the story even more hateful. Sorry. The film is Mexican.

Comments

[Sam Adams]

Poor Alex Rivera.

[bill]

But I thought Sundance and environs were a haven of liberal racial tolerance. My whole world has just come crashing down.

[chris]

Spoiler alert: the director is Alex Rivera of the movie "sleep dealer".

[cadavra]

This doesn't make sense. All three are Mexican, right? So if it was simple racism, wouldn't all three have been hassled?

[Glenn Kenny]

I'm just passing along the facts here, Cad. I'm not claiming they make any sense.

[Josh]

The two actors should have cleaned them out, and handed all their swag to the director once they were out the door.

So, repercussions? No, really? "You might steal something?" Can swag attendants really afford to be so blunt toward "the talent?" Was she a member of PETA or something?

[Regina]

The lead actress, Leonor Varela, is not mexican, she is from Chile. But I guess that to you guys it is all the same: anything south of the border is Mexican.

[Glenn Kenny]

Gee, thanks Regina. And you're right! For instance, one of my favorite writers is the blind Mexican Jorge Luis Borges. I'm also big on such celebrated Mexicans as underground horror director Jose Mojica Marins, musician Caetano Veloso, and novelist/journalist/memoirist Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Wasn't so crazy about the Mexican dictator Augusto Pinochet, though.

[cadavra]

Regina, I resent your implication that we are racist because we heard something second-hand and made a logical assumption based on the nationality of two of the three. She's Latino. There. Ya happy?

[Higgy Hackford]

You should identify the swag concern. Of course, if you're gonna do that, you'd need to contact them first to get their side of the story. Of course, that would sorta be like committing journalism. But you should do it.

[meow]

It would be racism if not for the fact that Alex Rivera looks like a generic white guy. The two actors ushered in with no problem have darker skin than he does. He looks Irish lol.

http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing.asp?nbc1=1&navtyp=CAL====300352&ym=200801

[Tess]

I want to go to Mexico. With Chad.

[Hully]

For the sake of our world and our future, I pray that Regina is a troll. If not, we are surely doomed.

[Mimi]

Just a thought... how were the individuals dressed? If the actors were in makeup and nice clothes, and the director looked slobby like so many do... maybe that had more to do with attitudes than ethnicity. Just a thought.

[Nasty Nasty]

@Regina:
Caetano Veloso IS FROM BRAZIL.

My gosh.