Ritmo: An AFI Conservatory Thesis Film

Hi there! This is a fundraiser on behalf of Josh Tyler (Producer), Stacy Pascal Gaspard (Director), Mariana Zavala (Co-writer), Elisa Souza (Cinematographer), and Esther Regen (Editor) to raise money for our upcoming AFI Thesis Film, Ritmo. We are $10,000 away frommeeting our goal and need your help to bring this vision to life!

Ritmo is a romantic short film about forbidden love amidst sultry salsa music and family legacy. It is, at its core, a love story between two Afrolatinos unlearning and overcoming the barriers of colorism that hinder them from being together.

With this film, we would like to display this mindset intertwined within the Afro-Latino and Caribbean community, rooted in a deep and all-consuming desire to fit into the mold of Eurocentric beauty standards. We want to start an overdue dialogue with the audience about the anti-Blackness that hovers around many households, brown and Black alike, burdening the People of Color who we want to uplift and highlight in our film. Moreover, we want to tell it musically as song and dance are immensely important elements of Caribbean culture.

We are scheduled to start shooting August 17th. Anything at all that you can provide to make Ritmo come to life would be greatly appreciated by the team and the young men and women for whom we tell this story.

At the American Film Institute Conservatory, we aim to make our films up to industry standards and as professionally as possible. All donations go towards the making of the film at the highest quality and maintaining a safe set for our cast and crew. The funds will help cover the cost of:

• Equipment rental
• Location rental
• Crew payment
• Food for the cast and crew
• and much more

You can learn more about the film and its crew at our official website