Your Blue Heart
Film Screening & Ticket Information
When & Where to See this Film!
LOCAL EXPRESS: A mixed bag from filmmakers across the city.
April 26, 2024 @ 2:00PM • MoMI Redstone
View the Trailer
Synopsis
Queens, New York, circa 2000. It’s just another day for Lito (40+), cooking breakfast in his kitchen. However, today is going to be different: he is expecting a guest – his son, Rey.
While Lito waits for his son’s arrival, he continues with his day, taking his pills, reading the newspaper, and tidying up his apartment. After a while, he realizes that most of the day had already passed, yet, Rey had not arrived. He attempts to call Rey but fails to reach him.
Lito resumes his chores, ironing his clothes for the week. He then hears an object drop in Rey’s room across the hall. Lito wonders if his son had come home. Lito goes to Rey’s room, but no one is there.
Sitting on Rey’s bed, Lito looks around the room, which has toys scattered all over. Lito then looks at a photograph of Rey as a small boy, reminiscing on the passage of time. Suddenly, the toys and various objects in the room disappear, which leaves Lito in an empty, lifeless room.
From the corner of the room appears a young man, Rey. Lito invites Rey to sit with him on the bed. They make peace with what happened between them and their lives.
Next morning, Lito is sleeping on a bare mattress, holding on to Rey’s childhood photograph. He wakes up and looks out of the window, wondering “was it a dream?”
Lito goes back to the kitchen to start another day.
Credits
Don Castro, Director
Don Castro, Writer
Sherry Huang, Producer
Don Castro, Producer
Don Castro, Key Cast, “Lito”, Film: The Goldfinch, The Wizard of Lies, The Happening TV: Power Book II: Ghost, Modern Love (s2), Pose, Marvel’s Daredevil S3, Blue Bloods, etc.
Roy Flores, Key Cast, “Rey”, Here Lies Love on Broadway
Director Statement
I have been a professional actor in New York City, on film and on stage, for almost 20 years. “Your blue heart” is my first attempt as a writer and director. I was never interested in writing my own stories. However, when my estranged father died suddenly in 2016, I was ill-equipped in grieving for him. I did not know how to mourn, how to feel sorrow, for a man who had been out of my life for nearly 30 years. Then, out of nowhere, came the idea for “Your blue heart.” I didn’t have to contrive it into existence. It came into being as if it had always been there. It was the purest conception of art that I’ve ever experienced.
After shooting a teaser, completing a script, raising funds, casting, and assembling a team, I was ready to move forward with the project. However, a few challenges brought the film’s progress to a halt, including a cancer diagnosis, personnel changes, and finally, the arrival of Covid-19. During the pandemic, I was inspired to re-imagine the approach and style of “Your blue heart,” as influenced by these unprecedented experiences. Following through with this new vision and trajectory, our re-assembled team finally found ourselves on set.
Working on the set of “Your blue heart” has stirred in me a renewed appreciation for filmmakers of all specialties. For example, the stakes for what will define a work, what direction it will go, and its total vision, rests solely on a director’s shoulders. This is an immense responsibility. Also, nothing that you watch on TV, streaming services, or the cineplex would exist without the technical competence/mastery, drive, organization, patience, curiosity, sensitivity, artistry, and yes, magic, of those working behind the camera. Filmmaking is a truly collaborative art form that blends everyone’s creative and technical expression to fit neatly inside a frame. What an awe-inspiring process.
Director Biography
Don Castro is a Manila-born, American actor based in New York City. His resume includes diverse roles spanning theatre, film, and television. Films featuring his work as an actor have screened at festivals in cities worldwide, such as the Toronto International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Soho International Film Festival, Manhattan Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Cannes’ Short Film Corner, and Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival. Partial Film/TV credits include: “The Goldfinch,” “The Wizard of Lies” (starring Robert De Niro), The Happening,” “Bohemibot” (Student Academy Award Winner), “Power Book II: Ghost,” “Modern Love,” “Pose,” “Marvel’s Daredevil,” “Blue Bloods,” “NYC 22,” and “The Blacklist.” “Your blue heart” is Don’s writing and directorial debut. (www.doncastro.com/yourblueheartfilm)
