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SHORT SYNOPSIS

DAMELO TODO is a hybrid documentary/narrative depicting Latina transgender women who build community with queer performance artists at downtown Los Angeles bar the SILVER PLATTER.

LONG SYNOPSIS

Set at Los Angeles Latino gay bar the Silver Platter, DAMELO TODO focuses on transgender women who have immigrated from Mexico and Central America. The bar serves as a safe haven for these women, while also hosting “Wildness,” a weekly queer club night that showcases drag, contemporary art, and international dance music.

The Silver Platter was founded by Rogelio Ramirez in 1963, and passed on to his younger siblings, Gonzalo and Gloria, when he died of AIDS in 1991. It has endured three generations, and the current owner, Koky Corral, hopes to “continue everything exactly as it is,” the way Rogelio intended it. In the beginning, Rogelio prohibited cross-dressing, telling his gay clientele, “If you want to come in here, dress as a man.” As time went on, the bar became more welcoming to transgender patrons, and today the scene flourishes. “It feels just like the place where I came from,” says Viki, a young transwoman from Guatemala. The Silver Platter has become a portal for transgender youth who leave their families behind in search of a more open gay life, promising economic prospects, and the support to transition from male to female. "I always felt that God had me destined to this place for a reason," says Nora Ramirez, "I have been the maternal embrace for many people who need the warmth of sincere embrace. The love of a mother that's far away."

DAMELO TODO addresses the intersection of economic, social, and legal factors that contribute to Los Angeles’ transgender community’s profound vulnerability. The film connects the history of Silver Platter to broader themes of economy, labor, gender, entertainment, migration, and family and conjures the bar as a present-day Stonewall, exploring the emotional and intellectual forces that build social movements of liberation.