- [Narrator] This time on Filmmaker.

(bright music) This program is brought to you in part by Friends of South Florida PBS.

- Hi, I'm Jeff Rusnak.

I'm the producer of the Open Dialogues film series.

- And I'm Freddie Rodriguez.

I'm the director, DP, and editor of Open Dialogue's Gen Queers.

- Open Dialogue's Gen Queers tells the coming out narratives of eight South Florida College students who are coming out while living at home.

- I hope this film enriches your heart.

(film projector whirring) (bright music) - [Narrator 2] What is queer for you?

- For me, means not straight and not cisgendered.

- Queer is freedom.

- Queer to me is power and identity.

- It's the freedom to be whatever you want and do what you want without stigmatization.

Yeah, I didn't like that.

- Whatever you want it to be.

- Freedom.

Wait, wait.

That was really stupid.

- [Narrator 2] Where do queer people live?

- Miami, Boston, Los Angeles.

- Underground, at the beach.

In the mall, at a gay bar, at a drag bar, at school.

In your neighborhood, in your back door.

- Coffee shops.

- My home.

- Queer people live everywhere.

Queeple... Queeple.

- [Narrator 2] What languages do queer people speak?

- We speak every language.

- English, Spanish, Cantonese, German.

- Like actually what language like English or whatever?

- Queer people speak any and all languages.

They come from everywhere.

They speak English, Spanish, French.

(speaker speaking in foreign language) - Lady Gaga lyrics.

(speaker speaking in foreign language) - [Narrator 2] What colors are queer people?

- Queer people are... - Purple, red, blue.

- Queer people... Queer people... - Brown, black, white.

- They physically look like rainbows.

And they create rainbows.

- Magenta.

- Black, brown, white, tan, all the colors.

- Gray.

- Queer is here.

- Queer is here.

- Queer is everywhere.

- Queer is everywhere.

- [Group] Queer is everywhere.

Queer is here.

- Queer is everywhere.

- Queer is everywhere.

- Queer is here.

- Queer is here.

- You want me to say those?

Okay.

(bright music) (upbeat music) - My name is Sofia Grajales.

I use they/them pronouns.

I go to Broward College and I'm studying art history and I want to be an art conservator.

Queer to me just means not cisgendered and not straight.

So if you're not either of those things, then you're queer.

Non-binary is you don't fit into the binary of gender.

Not a man, not a woman.

Something in between or outside of it.

- My name is Eric Martinez.

I go by he/him/his.

At the moment I go to Florida International University, hopefully going to law school this fall.

I can be masculine and feminine at the same time and I think we're beginning to understand that and accept people expressing how they want to feel.

And without such a focus on these societal expectations made by us, that in the end just constrict us.

- My name's Kelsey Parente.

My pronouns are they/he.

I go to Broward College.

I'm working on getting my bachelor's and I currently work as an interim sub at a high school.

I identify as transgender and for me that means identifying in a way that doesn't match up with the sex you were assigned at birth.

So for me, I was born a girl, therefore called a girl my whole life, but I don't identify as that.

- My name is Kenya Ja'na Nelson, but I prefer Ja'na.

My pronouns are she/they.

I graduated from Nova High School as well as Florida Atlantic University.

I can't speak for what happened back in the days, but I know that it was tough for people in the LGBTQ+ community to be themselves.

Now we can walk out.

I can be whoever I wanna be whenever I wanna be.

- My name is Nathalie Saladrigas.

My pronouns are she/her and I go to school in Miami-Dade College and I'm studying sociology.

I feel like pronouns are important because it respects the identity of the person and I feel like everyone has the freedom to express themselves in the way that they want to.

So I feel like that's been a big emphasis in our generation.

I think that's really respected and I try to respect everyone's pronouns, so yeah.

- My name is Doriyan Caty.

My pronouns are he/him and I'm currently studying musical theater at Florida Atlantic University.

Society kind of tries to put you in a box.

There's only two genders, but we've just evolved as a society, as people, and our generation is trying to give people the freedom to be who they are and not who they should be.

(mellow music) - My name is Ian Rodriguez.

My pronouns are he/him/his.

I'm 18 years old.

I go to Jose Marti MAST High School in Hialeah and I'm planning on attending Florida State University in the fall.

When did I find out I was not heterosexual?

It was sometime in middle school, like seventh, late seventh grade to early eighth grade.

I already felt like I wasn't really fitting into the mold that society has been pushing onto me at least, and friends and family.

So it's just like, okay, things are starting to piece together I feel.

- My name is Javier Gomez.

My pronouns are he/him/his and I currently work for Quality Florida, but I'm an independent activist.

The first time I knew that I was gay or queer, I was five years old.

There was always this uncomfortableness I felt around boys, not because I did not like them.

It was because I had this attraction to them, very romantic attraction to them.

It was like those moments where I thought that I was not the, quote-unquote, "normal boy."

I was something much more different.

- Well, I knew that I wasn't heterosexual when it was sixth grade in elementary school.

I was very all over my best friends, so I was very on them.

And I guess that was me liking them but not knowing how to express my feelings.

So then I guess I started learning more about it in my high school.

And yeah, I guess just as a kid, it's just like the feelings that you had, it's not something that I knew about.

It was just feelings of passion that I didn't know how to describe.

- I remember being, I think, in first grade and all the other little boys were talking about, oh, I like Daniella.

Oh I like Cindy, I like X, Y, Z.

And I was looking at them and I was like, something inside of me was saying you don't like the girls the same way they're talking about them.

You like them as friends, not wanting to be their girlfriend or hold hands or whatever being a girlfriend, boyfriend meant in first grade.

- I was always a part of the church, but it was this woman.

She was of course an older woman and she was a part of the youth ministry and for some reason, I just kept fantasizing about her.

I don't know why.

She just had some big beautiful boobs.

She was a really beautiful woman.

Her smile was just amazing.

- [Speaker] And how old were you when you had your first crush?

- I don't know.

I think...

I think I had to be like 12.

- I was a little bit late to figuring out that I didn't like men.

Like I said, I was born a woman, born a girl.

So it took me until I was 17 years old to realize I also liked women, and then a year or two later to realize I only like women.

So it was definitely a very slow process for me.

It was something that I kind of had a little bit of internalized homophobia.

I grew up pretty religious and to me that was kind of just something I internalized.

Once I realized, the next struggle was coming to terms with without myself and figuring out how to tell people around me.

- I knew that I was not heterosexual in fourth grade.

I identify as non-binary and lesbian because they're the closest words now for what I am.

Non-binary is the word that I can say for my gender identity that people will understand.

And lesbian is a lot easier to say than I like people, except for cishet men.

(mellow music) - I'm your daughter.

Don't hate me for who I love.

Just be my father.

I understand you want me to be happy, but I can't be who you want 'cause I choose to be free of all negativity in a mind, body, and soul, free from thoughts of dishonoring my family and free enough to be me.

- Came out to my parents when I was 13.

My mom was the first one and she was very actually very accepting, is actually my biggest supporter to this day.

However, my dad was a different case.

In reality, I was not something that he wanted.

I was something that actually he disliked, that he did not want ever in his life.

- With my parents at least, it was a big rollercoaster.

They felt very accusatory the way they were coming on to me.

And I was just like, in that moment I knew I just had to be honest and be like this is what I am.

It was instant loneliness and being like, okay, that's it.

I can't really come to them anymore for anything 'cause it's just like if this is how they're gonna react with me being who I am, I don't wanna imagine me coming to them with anything at that point, right?

It took me by surprise that they reacted this way I feel.

I wasn't expecting it.

- Both before and after I came out, I was trying to be in the house as little as possible.

As soon as I was old enough to join clubs and do extracurriculars and that would keep me outside of the house until like 9:00 PM most school days.

Not because it feels uncomfortable after coming out.

It's just there's always a weird tension when that specific conversation comes up.

So I just try to be around it as little as possible to keep the peace.

- My father, he was not fond of me being with a woman.

I remember before he died he was like, "You being with a woman really affects me."

That's one of the last things kind of a week or two before he died.

And that really affected me 'cause I really cared for him.

So it was not good.

- I had thought my parents knew before I came out.

At first they were really, really upset and disappointed and mad and they said the most hateful things, things that just stick with you for a while.

I'm glad they came around and told me they love me as I am.

- I've always grew up in a church and my dad was a minister.

He was God this, God that, God everything.

I think I had to remind myself of those scriptures that really speak to who I am supposed to be 'cause I believe that whatever I possess in my heart, I will show forth in what I do and what I say.

Just be love, show love and give love, because at the end of the day, that's all that really matters.

(brooding music) - To know yourself is to discover, to illuminate the floor of your ocean heart, revelation, to find yourself a castaway, separate, to lose your oars but still endure.

To know yourself is to conceal, to confine yourself to neat covert corners.

To be an extraterrestrial and live in exile.

To make magic, even when circled by shadows.

To know yourself is to reveal, to venture far past your confinement.

To clear charge fields and catalyze new growth.

To demand love because there is no other choice.

To know yourself is to love yourself.

To no longer be shackled by the secret inside.

To cherish your beautiful scars.

To know that in the end, you are loved as you are.

- Humanity is not some sort of monolith where there's only one type of people or two types of people.

Nothing in this world is binary, right?

And I think that's saying that gender is a spectrum and understanding and opening the doors for people to kind of identify and dress the way they wanna dress and be the way they wanna be and make their bodies their own, whatever that means to them, I think is a very good way to think about that.

And I think that if we all work a little bit harder to kind of understand each other and put in that effort instead of waiting for somebody else to explain themselves to us, the world just needs to become more empathetic towards everyone.

- The safe space narrative of home and school change drastically when I moved to elementary to middle.

After I came out as queer and finally understood what was wrong with me, but in reality, what was right with me, that is when the safe space that I had at home kind of shifted to school because I found that safe space in my friends and teachers.

That safe space at school became life changing but also became lifesaving.

- I went to Hialeah Gardens High School.

Hearing hate speech would get you crucified in class or being against gay marriage.

I felt like my classes were very accepting and very pro-gay.

Despite being a Republican or a Democrat, most of the people my age were okay with gay.

- Having a teacher that I felt safe to be around was definitely an integral part of growing up because if it wasn't for her, it just felt like such a relief that there was an adult that wasn't judging me for just the way that I am.

A lot of gay kids grow up having suicidal ideations because they don't feel like they have a safe space, and I was definitely one of those kids.

- Disclaimer, I love my mom a lot and she's a great mom really.

I'm just really scared of how she'll think of me, I guess.

I think secretly, I'm still really ashamed of who I am.

- I want you to think about how it feels to take away the ability to learn about where you come from or someone who walked the life that you lived before.

What would that do to you?

- Rhetoric that's being used towards us has been used against every other marginalized group in existence, but now it's even scarier 'cause it's like that group of people that think so lowly of us and hates us so much, they're in a incredible position of power right now.

It's a really scary time for queer people right now.

(bright music) - In my lifetime, I hoped being queer is no longer something that needs to be declared.

It can just be something that's accepted and it doesn't have to be this big coming out moment.

It can just be someone living authentically and being accepted by those around them and people can just exist and do what they want.

I would love to see that.

- When gay people are singled out as a threat to society, it feels like we're being used as the black sheep.

The spotlight is being put onto gay people and trans people and drag queens that definitely aren't a problem to distract from the actual problems that are going on.

- I think the narrative that we are dangerous needs to change.

I think that we need to start realizing that we're just people.

We're just people trying to live and being okay with it.

- If it doesn't relate to you and it's not something you're interested in, why do you have the right to stop other people from doing it?

So if the concern is to not harm children, then don't worry about drag and regulate gun control.

If it doesn't harm you, if it doesn't affect you, then why try and make the world a harder place for someone else?

- As much as the world will kind of get more progressive and more understanding and more accepting that we're never gonna reach that perfect point, there really is no good enough.

It's always what's the next steps to make this world a better place.

- Hate really divides.

We may not look the same, we may not speak or sound the same, but we definitely are the same and we go through the same things.

So why hate on the next person?

- My generation I don't think will ever succumb or be complacent to anything the opposition has towards us.

I literally cannot imagine how much we're gonna be able to accomplish with the momentum that we have right now.

It's only gonna keep going from here.

I have 100% confidence in my generation in fighting back and showing up as ourselves 100%.

(upbeat music) - We don't know the story until we sit down and start doing the filming and we hear these individual narratives.

And the power of Open Dialogues, I believe, is the trust that we get and the people in our films who reveal very private experiences that they've had and they do it on camera in ways that are just so revealing and universal, I think.

- We shoot about between seven and eight hours and then all that's whittled down.

As an editor, what I try to do is help the cast be as efficient in their ideas and what they're trying to express and make sure that the audience walks away with a very clear understanding of what the story beats are.

- The real victory is really their willingness to tell their story in a very open and honest way.

Not everybody starts out really comfortable, but as we went through the interview process, they really shared parts of their life that as someone sitting on the other side doing the interviews are just really, really powerful to hear.

- Yeah, for me, it's walking away a changed person and kind of losing the fear of how my community will evolve.

What I connected with, with the entire project was that Gen Z is very similar to Gen X.

They have a burning spirit to really be catalyst for change just like my generation had to take on the AIDS epidemic and kind of go through that.

- They're supposed to change things.

They're young.

- I know, right?

Yeah, we need change.

We need change.

It's vital.

- Hello, my name is Adrian Turner and I have made the film, "Roots of a Lil Greenhouse Grill".

My film, "Lil Greenhouse Grill" is just about the neighborhood and how some things like family-owned businesses just are struggling recently.

But there's this one place called Little Greenhouse Grill and against all odds, they're able to make it.

(film projector whirring) - [Narrator 3] It is said that only 70% of family owned businesses shut down or get sold before the second generation.

But the future seems different for a certain family.

For CEO, Karim Bryant and co-owner Nicole Gates, the future is bright.

Through Little Greenhouse Grill, they have left people wanting more.

Today they will spoil their secrets and we will find out what makes them so different.

- Well, my name is Karim Bryant.

I'm the executive chef and the owner of Little Greenhouse Grill.

I have almost 30 years inside the food and restaurant business.

Ah, it's just my passion, you know?

I love to cook.

I've been cooking since I've been a kid.

And I just constantly try to get better every day, learn different things, constantly trying to grow and evolve.

Coming up with the name was...

It was me and my god brother.

We were sitting on the porch one day and we were thinking about concepts and where the food industry is going as far as farm to table, more green, more natural.

So just off the color scheme and the wording, I didn't want to get a sucked into just being a soul food restaurant, so I wanted to make sure that I put an emphasis on the green and I was a grill, which mean I could do pretty much anything.

Now the little aspect come in is from the neighborhood, because that's a... Let me see if I can put that right.

It's like a urban sand.

We're not small, but we're little.

It's a difference.

So just because we're little, everything else is big about us.

Our service, our food, our flavor, our approach to the customers, how we stay connected with them even though they don't live here, from social media and everything.

So it's a dynamic that you got to stay on top of every day.

And I learned this from working in a lot of the best restaurants.

But it's a tedious job and it's almost like you have to drive the bus from the back sometimes and trust that you're not gonna crash.

The work ethic is totally different from, I would say 15 years ago, 20 years ago.

The kitchen environment was more professional.

More people were... Actually, that was their career, not just...

It's a lot of people that just want to work right now and they like feeling in place where they need to make some money and that's where a lot of small businesses are hurting at, because you want somebody to have just as much passion as you.

- I am gonna tell you, were there struggles?

Absolutely.

Were there challenges?

Absolutely.

Obstacles?

absolutely.

Moments where I'm in a closet wondering why, why?

Absolutely.

But has there ever been a point where I said I can't do this?

Absolutely not.

When you go into something with your heart, when you go into something with your all, you have to give it your all.

And at no point do you give up.

Do you rest?

Absolutely.

Do you take some time off?

For sure, that's necessary.

But do you quit?

No.

- You got to first focus on yourself.

And once you do that, you hone in on your craft and you got to believe in yourself.

That's the number one thing.

Don't let nobody tell you that you can't do it.

If you believe in yourself and you envision it, nothing you can't do.

- Now you know why Little Greenhouse Grill has been such a longstanding business in this generation.

It's all because of Kareem Bryant and Nicole Gates' hard work, dedication, persistence, and love for their craft.

(film projector whirring) - What we were going for was just a way to shed light on the family-owned businesses in the neighborhood and how some of them in Overtown, it's just not working out, but this place, something special about this place, what they're doing, I don't know what they're doing, but we can go figure it out.

Maybe all the other places in the neighborhood can just come together and just bring back the flair that they used to have in the family-owned business.

Definitely finishing up everything, that feeling of we are about to make something amazing and spectacular that I don't think that can be replicated by anything else.

Little Greenhouse Grill, that family-owned business that's right there can't be found anywhere else.

It's here.

It's meant for here.

This is the place where it's at.

So it's a completely original place that we tried to make it as fun as possible, as engaging as possible, as inspirational as possible.

Just try to add so many different seasonings to the pot so we can make it as flavorful as possible when we give it to our audience.

(film projector whirring) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] This program is brought to you in part by Friends of South Florida, PBS.

(bright music)