Acclaimed Film Maker Mario Zermeno Sits Down with Silver Lake Love and the Homeless

Red Chair Director talking to Silver Lake Love

Mario, first came down to join Silver Lake Love in November. “You don’t want to go down there at this time of night”, he said. “It’s not what you expect, definitely put away anything you have that could look like its worth something”. Moments later a stranger walked by us and said, “listen to him, you don’t want to go down there, seriously”. Being a resident of the Downtown Los Angeles area for the past 12 years, this is the reality in which Mario lives.

As we walked through the edges of Skid Row, Mario gave us a run down of the neighborhood he knows so well. As we passed by a woman who looked like she could have been on her last breath, Mario said to us “that’s part of her ‘routine’, a lot of these people have something they do to try to get more money panhandling”. “You see that guy in the wheelchair? He’s actually a runner, he’s the middleman for drug dealing.” Under Zermeno’s night vision, we felt a deeper understanding of the homeless situation that is not felt by majority of residents. It was a situation not underscored by the economic inequality, but by an emotional one. It wasn’t financial capital that these people lacked, but rather something more fundamental; it was capital defined through emotional health and the needs of love, loneliness, confidence, and the ability to feel as members of humanity. “The one thing that hurts these people the most is being ignored”. “Even for us, sometimes WE feel ignored and invisible, could you imagine how these people must feel”.

Scene from Red Chair When Dante loses all hope, he finds a Red Chair Red Chair, from Director Mario Zermeno

Zermeno is currently wrapping up production on a movie entitled “Red Chair”, which will debut this August, to be in the running for the 89th Academy Awards in the Best Live Action Short category. The movie, written, directed and produced by Zermeno, was inspired by his daily interactions with the homeless in his neighborhood. One of the things he noticed was the discrepancy between the homeless in Skid Row and those of other places such as neighboring Pasadena. “You don’t come to Skid Row to be saved. You come to Skid Row because you’ve lost all hope”. In the movie Red Chair, Dante, the principle character, has hit rock bottom. Zermeno describes the short as a necessary artistic narrative that defines our compassion for the urgent struggle within the homeless epidemic.  However, it is also an ode to the timeless beauty of humanity’s perseverance. It mirrors the darkness and light that is the reality of Skid Row but ultimately allows the audience to interpret the ultimate manifestation of Dante. As we have to do everyday in our lives to find meaning and our humanity, Zermeno attempts to provide us the canvas upon which to paint him as hero or invisible.

Zermeno is preparing his next film Mosquito State with Filip Rymsza who is currently completing Orson Welles last film ‘The Other side of the Wind’