Video Player
anarchy

Frozen Dreams

Directed by: Xochitl Dorsey
duration: 6 minutes

Frozen Dreams takes us into a day in the life of an immigrant street vendor in East Los Angeles. Gabriel Martinez is a paletero (a seller of traditional Mexican popsicles.) From sun up to sun down, he pushes his cart through the Mexican barrios of Los Angeles selling colorful popsicles and ice cream to the young and old. An anonymous, yet recognizable figure, he strolls the avenues with a dignified resolve to do complete his day’s work with resilience and purpose. He brings both pleasure and nostalgia to a community yearning for taste of home, even though making a meager living selling one popsicle at a time. His unique insight into the world of paleteros presents an unexpected testimonial about the immigrant experience in East Los Angeles.

contact: Xochitl Dorsey
address: USA
email: xochitl_dorsey@hotmail.com
links:

Warstory

Street vendors were always part of the cultural tableau that defined my community both in Los Angeles and Mexico. As I child I naturally gravitated to the calls of the neighborhood paletero (popsicle vendor) and relentlessly begged my mother to buy me one of their tasty frozen treats. Looking back I think she secretly enjoyed sharing one of her own favorite childhood delights from Mexico. In later years, my mother herself became a street vendor, working in a taco truck on Whittier Blvd. At the time I was embarrassed to tell my friends about her job, but I secretly loved visiting her at work and watching her interact with her customers. It made me see and experience East Los Angeles differently – as well as appreciate my mother’s charm and connection to her community. In a small way, this piece is homage to my mother and the street vendors of East Los Angeles, who in my eyes are part of the heart and soul of this unique barrio.

Bio - Xochitl Dorsey

Xochitl was born in Los Angeles and recently graduated with an MFA in Film Directing & Production from UCLA. Prior to this, she earned a degree in Latin American Studies and Museum Studies from NYU and began her career in the media arts at Women Make Movies and Link TV. She later went on to work on various film productions, including the HBO feature film “Walkout,” the feature documentary “Chicano Rock!” and, most recently, the mun2 television show “The Chicas Project.” Her narrative short film “Tears & Tortillas” won the 2006 Director’s Guild of America (DGA) for Best Student Short Film Award in the Latino Category, as well as Best Student Film in the 2006 Mercury Latino Lens Short Film Challenge. “Tears & Tortillas” was also broadcast nationally on Showtime as part of the channel’s “Latino Showcase” in October 2007. Additionally, her narrative shorts films “Cheli’s Beat” and “Flor de Naranja” have exhibited at various film festivals around the country (including the New York Latino International Film Festival), as well as aired on the KCET television program, “Fine Cut.” In Spring 2007 Xochitl was commissioned by the Silver Lake Film Festival to produce an original short film for the program “Letters From the Underground,” which she titled “Tropical America.” While currently in post-production on her narrative graduate thesis film, “Sweet Nothing,” Xochitl is also completing a Media Fellowship with the National Minority Consortia (NMC). In collaboration with the NMC, Latino Public Broadcasting, and the PBS NewsHour with Jim Leher, she is writing, producing and editing her own original segments on the 2008 Presidential Election.