Sippin'
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Drama, Comedy
Sippin’ asks the question, what happens when you serve white fragility at the table? This short film presents the encounter of four women of color who gather for celebration and healing with a ritual of tea and stories. Supporting this film helps to expand it's vision and the voices it represents.
Sippin'
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Drama, Comedy
1 Campaigns | California, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $10,025 for post-production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
86 supporters | followers
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Sippin’ asks the question, what happens when you serve white fragility at the table? This short film presents the encounter of four women of color who gather for celebration and healing with a ritual of tea and stories. Supporting this film helps to expand it's vision and the voices it represents.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
FROM STAGE...TO PLAY...TO THE BIG SCREEN…
HISTORY
As part of Gilbert Salazar’s work training and coaching schools and communities in Restorative Justice practices, he observed how white women treated him differently as a trainer than his colleagues who were women of color. He further observed how white women participants would interrupt and question his colleagues more than him. Often, they centered their feelings of unsafety over the feelings of others, halting the work attempted. Gilbert began asking questions of his colleagues’ experiences, and they shared how countless times, professionally and socially, white women impacted their experiences and identities. He collected these stories and wrote a play where four women of color gather to exchange stories at a tea party through vulnerability and resilience.
Sippin’ began as a 10 minute play written by Gilbert Salazar, premiering at Frida Kahlo Theater Festival in 2017. In June 2020, excerpts of this play were published by Living Justice Press, in “Colorizing Restorative Justice,” a book containing works by various Restorative Justice practitioners (to purchase a copy click here). The title of the chapter in which the play appears is: “Passing the Cup of Vulnerability: Offering Vulnerability as a Challenge to White Fragility through the Elements of Circle.”
In summer of 2021, Gilbert Salazar and Kieran Gopaul produced the Sippin' short film, which was directed and co-produced by Rosa Navarrete. The film has been made possible by a grant from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
Sippin’ at the Frida Kahlo Theater Festival, starring Ivone Reyes, Lauren Kush, Maya Cruz, and Latoya Franklin
The film is currently paused for post production, which includes hiring an editor, colorist, sound designer, music composer, musicians, and graphic artists. We would like to screen the completed film at an intimate online symposium event scheduled for February 17, 2022. Four authors of “Colorizing Restorative Justice” will speak to their chapters, which also center on their experiences of harm with white women they have worked with as colleagues or as supervisors. The team also plans to distribute the film to various film festivals for continued dialogue and representation of these workplace struggles and harmful environments for women of color.
MISSION
The Sippin' team wishes to use the film to promote continued dialogue and representation of workplace struggles and harmful environments for women of color.
It was intentional to hire women for all levels of production. As a result, most members of the core production team were women with experience working on sets, in the film industry, and are also artists and change makers. The following roles were all held by women for the production of Sippin’: Covid Compliance Officers, Unit Production Manager, First Assistant Director, Associate Producer, Gaffer, Co- Producer, and Director.
Because of the real accounts and feelings of women in the stories, it was important to the vision of this project that women be at the center of leadership and creative decision-making for this production.There was only one person we envisioned as Director of this story--Rosa Navarette. Often, these roles are assigned to men. Rosa, who describes herself as a ‘guerrilla filmmaker’, shared that this was the first time she had supportive roles and didn’t have to take on multiple roles at the same time.
It was important to create a culture of value where everyone’s work was of equal measure and worth. This intention was also of particular importance as a large group of people were to gather for only one day to create this collaborative project of making a short film.
This was the feedback we heard from one member of the production:
“This was honestly one of the best, most rewarding and most fulfilling experiences I’ve had as an artist. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. All during the filming of that opening shot, I just felt my grandmothers there with me. So I give them all the credit for what I was able to do."
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Editing & Sound
Costs $2,750
We want to pay and support our local talent!
Music
Costs $1,500
We want to pay and support our local talent!
Production
Costs $2,500
We need this for graphics, hardware, and other miscellaneous production costs.
Marketing
Costs $1,000
We want to pay and support our local talent!
Administration
Costs $3,150
This will go towards taxes on our grant and administrative fees such as campaign support.
Film Festivals
Costs $500
This will cover fees to promote Sippin' in various film festivals.
Events and Symposiums
Costs $600
An online symposium event with panelists, MC, and facilitators
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
GILBERT SALAZAR is a first-generation Queer Chicano educator and artist whose professional, creative, and explorative work lies in the intersection of community and culture-building and leadership, storytelling and story development, and ritual and theater for healing and liberation.
Gilbert has spent over eight years in the Restorative Justice field, training and coaching school leadership teams for continued community and culture development, working towards the deconstruction of exclusionary discipline and the school to prison pipeline. Gilbert was one of the first Restorative Justice Coordinators within LAUSD schools and was trained and coached by the California Conference for Equality and Justice. Gilbert was instrumental in bringing applied theater modalities and techniques to the training curriculum of Restorative Justice, bridging play into the work of Community Building Circles. Gilbert was later hired by the California Conference for Equality and Justice as a Coach and Strategist and helped develop curriculums on Restorative Dialogue, Trauma-Informed Strategies and Care, and Games and Teambuilders. Gilbert also produced the podcast, “Whatchu Know About RJ: Sharing Stories and Skills of Restorative Justice, a podcast that chronicled the experiences of practitioners doing the work of RJ and the necessary topics of culture, community, and justice.
As a playwright, Gilbert’s work has been staged and produced by Josefina Lopez at Casa 0101 and Frida Kahlo Theater. His first play, “Unmasking Hercules,” was featured in Casa 0101 and Brown & Out’s, “New Works Play Reading Series,” and later produced as a workshop production. When Brown and Out IV was revived at Casa 0101, he was asked to join as a writer and producer of the ten-minute play series celebrating LGBTQ stories in Latinx/Latine communities. Gilbert then co-produced his second full-length play, Angelito, as a workshop production. The screenplay from this play became an official selection of the LGBTQ Unbordered International Film Festival in 2020. He has also appeared in Nancy Sanchez’s music video for “Angel Baby” and in the short film “Puta,” written by Patricia Zamorano, produced by Matriarchy Films, and directed by Rosa Navarrete.
ROSA LISBETH NAVARRETE is a Peruvian immigrant and storyteller raised in Los Angeles. She writes, acts, and directs in SoCal and works on independent films and theater projects. Rosa recently directed Feliz - An American Play written by Michael J. Mejia, as her first cinematic/zoom/theater hybrid production via The Wayward Artist. Her short play Chabuca, Susana, Mami & Me was part of the 2021 Chicanas, Cholas, y Chisme Virtual Play Festival, and she’s a Co-creator of an independent series titled ELLAY that will be going to festivals later this year. In 2020, Rosa was part of the inaugural cohort for the Black, Indigenous, People of Color Sci-Fi Screenwriting Lab with Justice for my Sister (justiceformysister.com). Rosa is proud to be working on Sippin’ with Gilbert Salazar, Kieran Gopaul, and this incredible team of creatives. | More info: www.rosastory.com
KIERAN GOPAUL is an NYC-based independent film and theater producer who loves stories that create an emotional connection, promote critical consciousness, and lead to action. Kieran has overseen the production of several short films and theatre productions on topics ranging from youth and authentic Hip-Hop in Beijing to migration from Switzerland to Swaziland in 2065. Kieran first met the Writer and fellow Executive Producer of Sippin’, Gilbert Salazar, during USC’s graduate program in Applied Theatre Arts. At USC, Kieran and Gilbert started speaking the unspoken and unmasking their (masculine) identities through theatre and spoken word. Sippin’ is their first short film collaboration under their new production company Hermanidad Creations & Productions.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
FROM STAGE...TO PLAY...TO THE BIG SCREEN…
HISTORY
As part of Gilbert Salazar’s work training and coaching schools and communities in Restorative Justice practices, he observed how white women treated him differently as a trainer than his colleagues who were women of color. He further observed how white women participants would interrupt and question his colleagues more than him. Often, they centered their feelings of unsafety over the feelings of others, halting the work attempted. Gilbert began asking questions of his colleagues’ experiences, and they shared how countless times, professionally and socially, white women impacted their experiences and identities. He collected these stories and wrote a play where four women of color gather to exchange stories at a tea party through vulnerability and resilience.
Sippin’ began as a 10 minute play written by Gilbert Salazar, premiering at Frida Kahlo Theater Festival in 2017. In June 2020, excerpts of this play were published by Living Justice Press, in “Colorizing Restorative Justice,” a book containing works by various Restorative Justice practitioners (to purchase a copy click here). The title of the chapter in which the play appears is: “Passing the Cup of Vulnerability: Offering Vulnerability as a Challenge to White Fragility through the Elements of Circle.”
In summer of 2021, Gilbert Salazar and Kieran Gopaul produced the Sippin' short film, which was directed and co-produced by Rosa Navarrete. The film has been made possible by a grant from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
Sippin’ at the Frida Kahlo Theater Festival, starring Ivone Reyes, Lauren Kush, Maya Cruz, and Latoya Franklin
The film is currently paused for post production, which includes hiring an editor, colorist, sound designer, music composer, musicians, and graphic artists. We would like to screen the completed film at an intimate online symposium event scheduled for February 17, 2022. Four authors of “Colorizing Restorative Justice” will speak to their chapters, which also center on their experiences of harm with white women they have worked with as colleagues or as supervisors. The team also plans to distribute the film to various film festivals for continued dialogue and representation of these workplace struggles and harmful environments for women of color.
MISSION
The Sippin' team wishes to use the film to promote continued dialogue and representation of workplace struggles and harmful environments for women of color.
It was intentional to hire women for all levels of production. As a result, most members of the core production team were women with experience working on sets, in the film industry, and are also artists and change makers. The following roles were all held by women for the production of Sippin’: Covid Compliance Officers, Unit Production Manager, First Assistant Director, Associate Producer, Gaffer, Co- Producer, and Director.
Because of the real accounts and feelings of women in the stories, it was important to the vision of this project that women be at the center of leadership and creative decision-making for this production.There was only one person we envisioned as Director of this story--Rosa Navarette. Often, these roles are assigned to men. Rosa, who describes herself as a ‘guerrilla filmmaker’, shared that this was the first time she had supportive roles and didn’t have to take on multiple roles at the same time.
It was important to create a culture of value where everyone’s work was of equal measure and worth. This intention was also of particular importance as a large group of people were to gather for only one day to create this collaborative project of making a short film.
This was the feedback we heard from one member of the production:
“This was honestly one of the best, most rewarding and most fulfilling experiences I’ve had as an artist. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. All during the filming of that opening shot, I just felt my grandmothers there with me. So I give them all the credit for what I was able to do."
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Editing & Sound
Costs $2,750
We want to pay and support our local talent!
Music
Costs $1,500
We want to pay and support our local talent!
Production
Costs $2,500
We need this for graphics, hardware, and other miscellaneous production costs.
Marketing
Costs $1,000
We want to pay and support our local talent!
Administration
Costs $3,150
This will go towards taxes on our grant and administrative fees such as campaign support.
Film Festivals
Costs $500
This will cover fees to promote Sippin' in various film festivals.
Events and Symposiums
Costs $600
An online symposium event with panelists, MC, and facilitators
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
GILBERT SALAZAR is a first-generation Queer Chicano educator and artist whose professional, creative, and explorative work lies in the intersection of community and culture-building and leadership, storytelling and story development, and ritual and theater for healing and liberation.
Gilbert has spent over eight years in the Restorative Justice field, training and coaching school leadership teams for continued community and culture development, working towards the deconstruction of exclusionary discipline and the school to prison pipeline. Gilbert was one of the first Restorative Justice Coordinators within LAUSD schools and was trained and coached by the California Conference for Equality and Justice. Gilbert was instrumental in bringing applied theater modalities and techniques to the training curriculum of Restorative Justice, bridging play into the work of Community Building Circles. Gilbert was later hired by the California Conference for Equality and Justice as a Coach and Strategist and helped develop curriculums on Restorative Dialogue, Trauma-Informed Strategies and Care, and Games and Teambuilders. Gilbert also produced the podcast, “Whatchu Know About RJ: Sharing Stories and Skills of Restorative Justice, a podcast that chronicled the experiences of practitioners doing the work of RJ and the necessary topics of culture, community, and justice.
As a playwright, Gilbert’s work has been staged and produced by Josefina Lopez at Casa 0101 and Frida Kahlo Theater. His first play, “Unmasking Hercules,” was featured in Casa 0101 and Brown & Out’s, “New Works Play Reading Series,” and later produced as a workshop production. When Brown and Out IV was revived at Casa 0101, he was asked to join as a writer and producer of the ten-minute play series celebrating LGBTQ stories in Latinx/Latine communities. Gilbert then co-produced his second full-length play, Angelito, as a workshop production. The screenplay from this play became an official selection of the LGBTQ Unbordered International Film Festival in 2020. He has also appeared in Nancy Sanchez’s music video for “Angel Baby” and in the short film “Puta,” written by Patricia Zamorano, produced by Matriarchy Films, and directed by Rosa Navarrete.
ROSA LISBETH NAVARRETE is a Peruvian immigrant and storyteller raised in Los Angeles. She writes, acts, and directs in SoCal and works on independent films and theater projects. Rosa recently directed Feliz - An American Play written by Michael J. Mejia, as her first cinematic/zoom/theater hybrid production via The Wayward Artist. Her short play Chabuca, Susana, Mami & Me was part of the 2021 Chicanas, Cholas, y Chisme Virtual Play Festival, and she’s a Co-creator of an independent series titled ELLAY that will be going to festivals later this year. In 2020, Rosa was part of the inaugural cohort for the Black, Indigenous, People of Color Sci-Fi Screenwriting Lab with Justice for my Sister (justiceformysister.com). Rosa is proud to be working on Sippin’ with Gilbert Salazar, Kieran Gopaul, and this incredible team of creatives. | More info: www.rosastory.com
KIERAN GOPAUL is an NYC-based independent film and theater producer who loves stories that create an emotional connection, promote critical consciousness, and lead to action. Kieran has overseen the production of several short films and theatre productions on topics ranging from youth and authentic Hip-Hop in Beijing to migration from Switzerland to Swaziland in 2065. Kieran first met the Writer and fellow Executive Producer of Sippin’, Gilbert Salazar, during USC’s graduate program in Applied Theatre Arts. At USC, Kieran and Gilbert started speaking the unspoken and unmasking their (masculine) identities through theatre and spoken word. Sippin’ is their first short film collaboration under their new production company Hermanidad Creations & Productions.