Actor-director Julio Torres didn’t appear in-person at the Outfest screening of his upcoming comedy Problemista, but he did send a message to the audience.
“Hello, fellow queers,” Torres began in a video that played before the start of Problemista on Saturday night. Before it rolled, the LGBTQIA+ film festival in Los Angeles explained that Torres recorded the message shortly before SAG-AFTRA went on strike on July 14, with instructions to play it if the walkout prevented him from attending the event.
“If you’re seeing this, it only means one thing and that is that my union went on strike. So, I am not there [out Outfest] in solidarity,” he said. “When picking a side between fellow artists and the interest of corporations and their millionaire, billionaire CEOs, the choice was, how do you say, uh, easy.”
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As Deadline reported exclusively on Friday, A24 has indefinitely postponed the planned August 4 release of Problemista as a result of the actors strike. Torres, best known for the HBO comedic series Los Espookys, makes his directorial debut with the film in which he stars alongside Oscar winner Tilda Swinton. He plays Alejandro, an immigrant from Guatemala who loses a job at cryogenics company Freeze Corp, threatening his ability to obtain a green card to work in the U.S. In a twist, Elizabeth (Swinton) a mercurial woman whose husband has been frozen at the lab, offers employment to Alejandro. But Elizabeth proves almost impossible to work with.
Problemista premiered at SXSW in March and went on to screen at the Provincetown Film Festival and Oak Cliff Film Festival before heading to Outfest. In his video message, Torres noted, “The idea of asserting your humanity to a corporation and the systems that they uphold, is a sentiment very, very dear to my heart as — no spoilers — you are about to see.
“Read up on the strike — though you’re in LA, so you’re probably like, ‘We know what you’re talking about,’” he added with his deceptive deadpan delivery. “And happy belated Pride… Thank you so much for coming. Um, Union Strong. Have a good day.”
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