Short film · Los Angeles
A Dios Le Pido
Yoli is on her tenth straight shift, paying the rent, her little brother's field trip, and her mother's bills. Javi is out chasing a record deal on her dime. By the end of the night, she has to decide whether she's still waiting on him.
Written by Mayra Cortez · Co-directed by Jonathan Williams
The film
Two rooms that carry the film
The night splits between two real queer venues in Los Angeles, one on the Eastside with seventy years behind it and one in Downtown that opened in late 2024. We didn't build sets. We shot inside both.
Redz
2218 E. 1st St · Boyle Heights
Redz opened in Boyle Heights in the 1950s, back when working-class lesbian bars were spreading across Los Angeles. It went by Redheads, then Reds, then Redz, and for decades it was one of the few lesbian bars in the city that served a mostly Mexican and Mexican American crowd. The L.A. Conservancy lists it as culturally significant for exactly that reason. The original bar closed in 2015 after more than fifty years. Redz Angelz opened in the same spot under new owners in 2016.
In the film it's Javi's half of the night: the toast with Mark, a drummer dangling studio time, the missed calls.
Kiso
107 W. 4th St · Downtown Historic Core
Kiso opened in December 2024 as a gay bar for queer people of every kind, with two bars, a lounge in the middle, and a dance floor in back. The room has history too: it used to be Score, a gay nightclub that was popular through the '80s and '90s.
We turned it into Yoli's club. That meant a working stage and pole for the dance, a real bar for Yoli and Betty's shots, the lounge for Sol's lap dance, and the front entrance under a streetlight.
Photo gallery
Dressed punk, not costumed
A real bar only reads as real if the people in it look like they'd be there anyway. The crowd at both venues came in a punk rock look, and that set the temperature for every frame.
The crowd
Punk rock across the board. Black, leather, hardware, loud hair. Enough attitude that the extras never read as extras.
Yoli
Short pink dress, go-go boots, hot pink lipstick. The boots are written into the script before she ever leaves the apartment.
Javi
Starts the night in a stained white beater and finishes it with fresh clippers and pomade, dressed for a stage he hasn't been invited onto yet.
Immersing the space
We kept each venue's own light, bar, and signage, and worked around the room instead of covering it up. The goal was for anyone who knows Redz or Kiso to recognize it on sight.
Who's in the room
Yoli · 26 · dancer, intern
Two jobs, the rent, her family's bills. The one holding everything up and getting asked for more.
Javi · 33 · musician
Wants Black Kat to sign him. Calls it business. Says "I love you" and means it, then forgets her.
Mark · Javi's friend
Done with mall jobs, eyeing barber school. The only one at Redz who says Yoli's name out loud.
Betty · 32 · bartender at Kiso
Shots, solidarity, and no illusions about what security is for.
Sol · 28 · old friend
Back from Texas with an invitation to a private party and a way out of Kiso.
Lourdes · Yoli's mother
On the phone in Spanish. Takes the money, keeps the receipts, expects her at mass.