Pedro (film)
Encyclopedia
Pedro is a 2008 American film about the openly gay, Cuba
n-American AIDS
educator and television personality, Pedro Zamora
, who became famous as a castmember on MTV
's reality television
series, The Real World: San Francisco
. It was produced by Bunim-Murray Productions, the same company that produces The Real World, and is their first scripted project. It was produced by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, written by Dustin Lance Black
and directed by Nick Oceano. The film stars Alex Loynaz, Justina Machado
and Hale Appleman
.
The film was an Official Selection at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival.
The film aired on MTV on April 1, 2009 before the season finale of The Real World: Brooklyn
.
was approached by director Paris Barclay with the idea for the project in 2003. Black, who is gay
, was an avid fan of The Real World: San Francisco
, on which Pedro Zamora was a cast member, though Black himself was still in the closet
at the time that it originally aired. Black was inspired by Zamora's decision to become a public educator, despite the bigoted attacks that he suffered. Black was further motivated by the state of the AIDS
epidemic at the time of the film's production, commenting that "Pedro's message is getting lost", and hoping that the film might motivate young people to continue Zamora's work.
, with 22-year-old AIDS
activist Pedro Zamora in his New York City hotel room in 1994, getting ready for an appearance on CBS
. His contact calls him to ask why he has not arrived at the studio, but Zamora, disoriented, does not know who she is. Hotel security subsequently finds him lying unconscious on the floor.
In flashback, 21-year-old Zamora is in Miami, Florida
, where his family emigrated from Cuba
. After making an audition tape for MTV's reality television
series, The Real World: San Francisco
, he is interviewed by producers. He tells him that if he is cast, he will not change his name to "Peter", nor hide his HIV
status. He says that it does not matter if he dies of AIDS, as it is more important that he speak out about the disease. He is eventually cast, and meets his housemates when he moves into the house. As the housemates get to know one another, Judd Winick
, who was informed by the producers that he would be living with someone with AIDS, is nervous about which of his housemates has it.
Zamora tells the others about his HIV/AIDS status by showing them his scrap book as an AIDS educator. Housemate Rachel Campos, who is uncomfortable, feels it is Pedro's responsibility to ease her concerns, and that she is being made the villain. Housemate David "Puck" Rainey, meanwhile, makes derogatory jokes about Zamora and his homosexuality
. Zamora spends time with Sean Sasser, and becomes friends with Pam and Judd, his roommates. Rainey alienates the rest of the cast with his behavior, and when Zamora threatens to move out if Rainey stays, the others evict Rainey.
Zamora continues his work, speaking publicly despite protesters, though he continues to get sicker. Despite Winick's attempts to be reassuring, Zamora laments that he is only going to get worse. When one of the producers asks him if he wants to stop taping or be sent home, Zamora insists that he promise him that they continue filming until the end.
In 1994, the unconscious Zamora is brought to St. Vincent's Hospital
in New York. He is told that his sister, Mily, will be arriving to see him. When a staffperson asks him if he wishes her to remove the anklet his has on his left ankle, he refuses.
In an interview, Mily Zamora calls her brother a "miracle", as her mother, who had already had several children, had had an operation to prevent further pregnancies prior to his conception. In flashback, the young Zamora is taken to a priest of Santería
, who adorns him with flowers, and ties a chain to his ankle to keep him symbolically tied to Earth. Later the family is torn in half during the Mariel Boat Lift, because the four eldest children are of military age, and are not permitted to leave. They insist to their parents that they leave with Zamora, Mily, and younger brother Jesus.
The family settles in Miami. Zamora's mother, Zoraida, grows close to her children, but the separation from her older children makes life difficult for her. When he is 13, his mother dies of cancer
. Zamora does not openly grieve, but decides to become a doctor. By the time he is a young man, Mily is troubled by the secretive nature of the time he spends with his "friends". After rummaging through his belongings, and finding letters, she discovers that he is gay
, leading to a confrontation.
In 1994, Mily is at Saint Vincent's, and is told that her brother may have toxoplasmosis
, a parasitic infection common to AIDS patients, but that it may be the more serious PML
. Further tests must be conducted to make a determination.
In flashback, Zamora is an outgoing teenager who easily finds suitors. He does not practice safe sex
, because the only education he receives on AIDS presents it as something that afflicts only prostitutes and drug addicts. When he is 17, he volunteers to give blood at a high school blood drive, and discovers he has HIV. Mily is devastated when she finds out. He goes into denial, but months before he graduates high school, he comes down with shingles, and comes to the conclusion that he has no future. After educating himself, however, he decides to dedicate his life to becoming an AIDS educator, speaking at schools, and doing radio shows.
In an interview, Zamora's boyfriend, Sean Sasser, talks about how he tested positive while at culinary college, and later met Zamora at a gay and lesbian
march in Washington, D.C. As they get to know one another, they feel a mutual attraction. Sasser tells Zamora that he should look him up if he ever visits San Francisco. When Zamora eventually does move to San Francisco six months later as part of The Real World
, they begin to date, though Zamora is reluctant to be open about his sexuality in public, having been subject to homophobia
in Miami. Nonetheless, the two fall in love, and Sasser asks Zamora if he will stay in the city after filming ends. The two exchange wedding vows in a ceremony in the Real World house.
In 1994, Winick visits Zamora at Saint Vincent's, and tells him that Zamora's agent asked him if he would substitute at his lecture. Winick suggests postponing the lecture, but Zamora insists that he stand in. After Zamora undergoes a brain biopsy
, Mily expresses enthusiasm that he will appear on TV, but he tells her that he will not be making any more appearances. He is transferred to a Miami hospital, where his loved ones are told that he has PML, and that he does not have much time left. Sasser insists that they try all available treatments, including an experimental one that would likely be painful. Zamora's family oppose the treatment, and wish to take him home. Zamora also decides against the treatment, and asks to be taken home, where his family try to bar Sasser from seeing him. As his condition deteriorates, and his story makes the news, he confronts his sister over his family's exclusion of Sasser. After they view a videotape of the wedding ceremony, they have a change of heart, and welcome Sasser back into the fold. Zamora gets a phone call from President Bill Clinton
, who thanks him for his work, and who facilitates the reunion of his older brothers and sisters, who have been allowed to leave Cuba to join the family in Miami. As the family is now reunited, the bedridden Zamora sees a vision of his mother at his bedside.
He passes away on November 11, 1994. Footage of Pedro Zamora and Sean Sasser's real-life commitment ceremony from The Real World is shown, over which title cards describe what happened to the others in the story.
for "Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-Series" during the 21st GLAAD Media Awards
.
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n-American AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
educator and television personality, Pedro Zamora
Pedro Zamora
Pedro Pablo Zamora was a Cuban-American AIDS educator and television personality...
, who became famous as a castmember on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
series, The Real World: San Francisco
The Real World: San Francisco
The Real World: San Francisco is the third season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras follow their lives and interpersonal relationships...
. It was produced by Bunim-Murray Productions, the same company that produces The Real World, and is their first scripted project. It was produced by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, written by Dustin Lance Black
Dustin Lance Black
Dustin Lance Black is an American screenwriter, director, film and television producer, and LGBT rights activist. He has won two Writers Guild of America Awards for his work on the television series Big Love and an Academy Award for the 2008 film Milk.-Early life:Black was born in Sacramento,...
and directed by Nick Oceano. The film stars Alex Loynaz, Justina Machado
Justina Machado
Justina Machado is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Vanessa Diaz in the HBO drama series Six Feet Under.-Early life:...
and Hale Appleman
Hale Appleman
Hale Isaac Appleman is an American actor. Best known for playing Tobey Cobb in the 2007 film Teeth, Appleman made his film debut in Chad Lowe's feature, Beautiful Ohio, and portrayed cartoonist Judd Winick in Pedro, Nick Oceano's 2008 film dramatizing the life of AIDS educator Pedro Zamora...
.
The film was an Official Selection at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival.
The film aired on MTV on April 1, 2009 before the season finale of The Real World: Brooklyn
The Real World: Brooklyn
The Real World: Brooklyn is the twenty-first season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras document their lives and interpersonal relationships...
.
Production
Writer Dustin Lance BlackDustin Lance Black
Dustin Lance Black is an American screenwriter, director, film and television producer, and LGBT rights activist. He has won two Writers Guild of America Awards for his work on the television series Big Love and an Academy Award for the 2008 film Milk.-Early life:Black was born in Sacramento,...
was approached by director Paris Barclay with the idea for the project in 2003. Black, who is gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, was an avid fan of The Real World: San Francisco
The Real World: San Francisco
The Real World: San Francisco is the third season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras follow their lives and interpersonal relationships...
, on which Pedro Zamora was a cast member, though Black himself was still in the closet
Closeted
Closeted and in the closet are metaphors used to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and intersex people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior.-Background:In late 20th...
at the time that it originally aired. Black was inspired by Zamora's decision to become a public educator, despite the bigoted attacks that he suffered. Black was further motivated by the state of the AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
epidemic at the time of the film's production, commenting that "Pedro's message is getting lost", and hoping that the film might motivate young people to continue Zamora's work.
Cast
- Alex Loynaz as Pedro ZamoraPedro ZamoraPedro Pablo Zamora was a Cuban-American AIDS educator and television personality...
- Justina MachadoJustina MachadoJustina Machado is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Vanessa Diaz in the HBO drama series Six Feet Under.-Early life:...
as Mily Zamora - Hale ApplemanHale ApplemanHale Isaac Appleman is an American actor. Best known for playing Tobey Cobb in the 2007 film Teeth, Appleman made his film debut in Chad Lowe's feature, Beautiful Ohio, and portrayed cartoonist Judd Winick in Pedro, Nick Oceano's 2008 film dramatizing the life of AIDS educator Pedro Zamora...
as Judd WinickJudd WinickJudd Winick is an American comic book, comic strip and television writer/artist and former reality television personality... - DaJuan Johnson as Sean Sasser
- Matt BarrMatt BarrMatthew Jerome "Matt" Barr is an American television and film actor. He is best known for his roles as Mike Fleming in Commander in Chief, Ian Banks in One Tree Hill, Christopher Sullivan in the mystery horror series Harper's Island, and Dan Patch in The CW series Hellcats.-Early life:Matthew...
as David "Puck" Rainey - Jenn Liu as Pam LingPam LingPam Ling is a Chinese American physician, best-known as a castmate on The Real World: San Francisco, the third season of MTV's long-running reality television show.-On the Real World:...
- Karolina Luna as Rachel Campos
- Anibal O. Lleras as Hector Zamora
- Theresa Hernandez as Zoraida Zamora
- Jorge Blanco Muñoz as Jesús Zamora
Synopsis
The film opens in medias resIn medias res
In medias res or medias in res is a Latin phrase denoting the literary and artistic narrative technique wherein the relation of a story begins either at the mid-point or at the conclusion, rather than at the beginning In medias res or medias in res (into the middle of things) is a Latin phrase...
, with 22-year-old AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
activist Pedro Zamora in his New York City hotel room in 1994, getting ready for an appearance on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
. His contact calls him to ask why he has not arrived at the studio, but Zamora, disoriented, does not know who she is. Hotel security subsequently finds him lying unconscious on the floor.
In flashback, 21-year-old Zamora is in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, where his family emigrated from Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. After making an audition tape for MTV's reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
series, The Real World: San Francisco
The Real World: San Francisco
The Real World: San Francisco is the third season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras follow their lives and interpersonal relationships...
, he is interviewed by producers. He tells him that if he is cast, he will not change his name to "Peter", nor hide his HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
status. He says that it does not matter if he dies of AIDS, as it is more important that he speak out about the disease. He is eventually cast, and meets his housemates when he moves into the house. As the housemates get to know one another, Judd Winick
Judd Winick
Judd Winick is an American comic book, comic strip and television writer/artist and former reality television personality...
, who was informed by the producers that he would be living with someone with AIDS, is nervous about which of his housemates has it.
Zamora tells the others about his HIV/AIDS status by showing them his scrap book as an AIDS educator. Housemate Rachel Campos, who is uncomfortable, feels it is Pedro's responsibility to ease her concerns, and that she is being made the villain. Housemate David "Puck" Rainey, meanwhile, makes derogatory jokes about Zamora and his homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
. Zamora spends time with Sean Sasser, and becomes friends with Pam and Judd, his roommates. Rainey alienates the rest of the cast with his behavior, and when Zamora threatens to move out if Rainey stays, the others evict Rainey.
Zamora continues his work, speaking publicly despite protesters, though he continues to get sicker. Despite Winick's attempts to be reassuring, Zamora laments that he is only going to get worse. When one of the producers asks him if he wants to stop taping or be sent home, Zamora insists that he promise him that they continue filming until the end.
In 1994, the unconscious Zamora is brought to St. Vincent's Hospital
Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center
Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers ' was a healthcare system, anchored by its flagship hospital, St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan, locally referred to as "St. Vincent's". St. Vincent's was founded in 1849 and closed in 2010...
in New York. He is told that his sister, Mily, will be arriving to see him. When a staffperson asks him if he wishes her to remove the anklet his has on his left ankle, he refuses.
In an interview, Mily Zamora calls her brother a "miracle", as her mother, who had already had several children, had had an operation to prevent further pregnancies prior to his conception. In flashback, the young Zamora is taken to a priest of Santería
Santería
Santería is a syncretic religion of West African and Caribbean origin influenced by Roman Catholic Christianity, also known as Regla de Ocha, La Regla Lucumi, or Lukumi. Its liturgical language, a dialect of Yoruba, is also known as Lucumi....
, who adorns him with flowers, and ties a chain to his ankle to keep him symbolically tied to Earth. Later the family is torn in half during the Mariel Boat Lift, because the four eldest children are of military age, and are not permitted to leave. They insist to their parents that they leave with Zamora, Mily, and younger brother Jesus.
The family settles in Miami. Zamora's mother, Zoraida, grows close to her children, but the separation from her older children makes life difficult for her. When he is 13, his mother dies of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
. Zamora does not openly grieve, but decides to become a doctor. By the time he is a young man, Mily is troubled by the secretive nature of the time he spends with his "friends". After rummaging through his belongings, and finding letters, she discovers that he is gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, leading to a confrontation.
In 1994, Mily is at Saint Vincent's, and is told that her brother may have toxoplasmosis
Toxoplasmosis
Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. The parasite infects most genera of warm-blooded animals, including humans, but the primary host is the felid family. Animals are infected by eating infected meat, by ingestion of feces of a cat that has itself...
, a parasitic infection common to AIDS patients, but that it may be the more serious PML
Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy
Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy , also known as progressive multifocal leukoencephalitis, is a rare and usually fatal viral disease that is characterized by progressive damage or inflammation of the white matter of the brain at multiple locations .It occurs almost exclusively in...
. Further tests must be conducted to make a determination.
In flashback, Zamora is an outgoing teenager who easily finds suitors. He does not practice safe sex
Safe sex
Safe sex is sexual activity engaged in by people who have taken precautions to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS. It is also referred to as safer sex or protected sex, while unsafe or unprotected sex is sexual activity engaged in without precautions...
, because the only education he receives on AIDS presents it as something that afflicts only prostitutes and drug addicts. When he is 17, he volunteers to give blood at a high school blood drive, and discovers he has HIV. Mily is devastated when she finds out. He goes into denial, but months before he graduates high school, he comes down with shingles, and comes to the conclusion that he has no future. After educating himself, however, he decides to dedicate his life to becoming an AIDS educator, speaking at schools, and doing radio shows.
In an interview, Zamora's boyfriend, Sean Sasser, talks about how he tested positive while at culinary college, and later met Zamora at a gay and lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
march in Washington, D.C. As they get to know one another, they feel a mutual attraction. Sasser tells Zamora that he should look him up if he ever visits San Francisco. When Zamora eventually does move to San Francisco six months later as part of The Real World
The Real World
The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray. First broadcast in 1992, the show, which was inspired by the 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family, is the longest-running program in MTV history and one of the...
, they begin to date, though Zamora is reluctant to be open about his sexuality in public, having been subject to homophobia
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
in Miami. Nonetheless, the two fall in love, and Sasser asks Zamora if he will stay in the city after filming ends. The two exchange wedding vows in a ceremony in the Real World house.
In 1994, Winick visits Zamora at Saint Vincent's, and tells him that Zamora's agent asked him if he would substitute at his lecture. Winick suggests postponing the lecture, but Zamora insists that he stand in. After Zamora undergoes a brain biopsy
Biopsy
A biopsy is a medical test involving sampling of cells or tissues for examination. It is the medical removal of tissue from a living subject to determine the presence or extent of a disease. The tissue is generally examined under a microscope by a pathologist, and can also be analyzed chemically...
, Mily expresses enthusiasm that he will appear on TV, but he tells her that he will not be making any more appearances. He is transferred to a Miami hospital, where his loved ones are told that he has PML, and that he does not have much time left. Sasser insists that they try all available treatments, including an experimental one that would likely be painful. Zamora's family oppose the treatment, and wish to take him home. Zamora also decides against the treatment, and asks to be taken home, where his family try to bar Sasser from seeing him. As his condition deteriorates, and his story makes the news, he confronts his sister over his family's exclusion of Sasser. After they view a videotape of the wedding ceremony, they have a change of heart, and welcome Sasser back into the fold. Zamora gets a phone call from President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, who thanks him for his work, and who facilitates the reunion of his older brothers and sisters, who have been allowed to leave Cuba to join the family in Miami. As the family is now reunited, the bedridden Zamora sees a vision of his mother at his bedside.
He passes away on November 11, 1994. Footage of Pedro Zamora and Sean Sasser's real-life commitment ceremony from The Real World is shown, over which title cards describe what happened to the others in the story.
Awards
In 2010, Pedro was nominated for a GLAAD Media AwardGLAAD Media Awards
The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives...
for "Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-Series" during the 21st GLAAD Media Awards
21st GLAAD Media Awards
The 21st GLAAD Media Awards was the 2010 annual presentation of the media awards presented by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The awards seek to honor films, television shows, musicians and works of journalism that fairly and accurately represent the LGBT community and issues...
.