The Queen and the Dead Film


I, Antonio Ortiz, have a BA in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley and studied acting and improv at Studio ACT, Berkeley REP and Second City in Chicago. I performed Improv at Pan Theater in Oakland, sang as 2nd tenor with the Oakland East Bay Gay Men's Chorus, created and directed radio drama at KPFA Radio and site specific theater for The Home Theater Festival in 2014. I also danced for 15 years, initially in competitive ballroom dance and also performing with DNaga Dance Company in Oakland, Barbary Coast Cloggers and Latin Dance Grooves Ensemble in San Francisco. Outside of the arts, I worked 17 years in broadcast media at Berkeley Community Media as Interim Programming Director, at KPFA 94.1 FM Listener Sponsored Radio as PC Network Engineer and at Free Speech Radio News on the Pacifica Radio Network as Techinal Producer.

My partner is Hector Zavala (producer) who has 19 years of experience in theater and film production in the United States and Mexico. In the SF Bay Area, Hector worked as Production Manager for 42nd Street Moon, as Technical Director for Diablo Theater Company, Stage Manager for Custom Made Theater and has done set design for various theater companys in the Bay Area.


Back in 2014, our project made a successful theatrical debut as a play in the Home Theatre Festival in Oakland, California. With the help of friends and family, we produced The Queen and the Dead short film (under 22 minutes) with a week of preproduction, 3 days of filming on an iPhone 5s, producing 1 cover song, plus 2 zombies on a budget of $5000 USD. The short film was screened in San Francisco on February 21st, in San Diego on February 24th, in Mexicali, Mexico on February 27th and May 26th at UABC, and at the Calexico short film festival on August 20th to excited audiences who loved the film and wanted to see more.


The Queen and the Dead follows the life of a young drag songstress, Viola Corona also known as Florentino. Viola moves from San Francisco, California to Mexico to follow her dream of becoming the next international female pop star only to discover the zombie apocalypse has just begun. Through the support of amazing friends, Viola discovers that her voice has the power to hypnotize zombies. This film chronicles Viola’s hilarious butt kicking adventures to stardom.


What We Need:
$35,000 in total is what we need to finish the film!

Funds will cover our Actor and Crew's pay, filming the remaining 6 scenes of the movie in January and post production.


We have been blessed to receive donations from Mexicali organizations and productions companies in the form of film and sound equipment, location permits, etc. Our film will feature up to a hundred talented actors, dancers and star-studded cameos. The incomparable Mexican actress, Aida Pierce, known for her work in telenovelas and sitcoms and the one and only Heklina (formerly known as Trannyshack) drag queen and entrepreneur from San Francisco are on board! We are also thrilled to have renowned composer Lawrence Rush produce two original songs for the film score. Scene Runner app is sponsoring our rehearsals by creating a special link for our actors to rehearse and run lines.


The Queen and the Dead is a homage to all superheroes who inspire us to be better human beings. Viola reminds us to be true to ourselves no matter our ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. The film is a tribute to victims of hate crimes and dedicated to two close friends of Hector who were killed for dressing in drag and being openly gay. In 2005, after a night out in drag, our friend Amancio was tortured and murdered in Yuma, Arizona. His body was found five days later. In 2006, another friend Paul was stabbed multiple times in his home while he slept.

Viola’s story gives us hope and strength through the darkness. The Queen and the Dead encourages us to follow our dreams and overcome obstacles that get in our way including the flesh eating undead.