MALA MALA - Puerto Rico Trans and Drag Documentary Roundtable

Guest Bio

In a celebration of the trans community in Puerto Rico, the fissure between internal and external is an ever-present battle. A unique exploration of self-discovery and activism, featuring a diverse collection of subjects that include LGBT advocates, business owners, sex workers, and a boisterous group of drag performers who call themselves The Doll House, Mala Mala portrays a fight for personal and community acceptance paved with triumphant highs and devastating lows. Through riveting cinematography that encapsulates the candy-colored, vivacious personalities as well as their frequently dark personal experiences, directors Antonio Santini and Dan Sickles dynamically present the passion and hardships reflective of this distinctively binary human experience.

Dan Sickles has produced and directed films, music videos, and commercials for clients from New York to Tokyo, with screenings ranging from Yale University’s campus to the 2012 Cannes International Film Festival. An actor as well, Dan is also starring as Moritz in an upcoming film adaptation of Spring Awakening due out in 2015. Mala Mala is his feature-length directorial debut. Antonio Santini is a director, writer, and digital artist in New York City. His films have premiered at several international film festivals including festivals in Croatia, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, Texas and at the Anthology Film Archives in New York.

Antonio Santini s a Puerto Rican director, writer, and digital artist. Since his Internet theory and subculture studies at NYU Gallatin, Antonio has spent his summers in Brooklyn making movies and his winters in Puerto Rico storyboarding his upcoming feature film, Lolita Forever. His films have screened at 9 festivals internationally.