Recap: Wilmer Valderrama at The Latinx House encourages ‘Wear My Shoes’ #Sundance 2020 #Video

Actor Wilmer Valderrama (“That 70s Show” and “Blast Beat” film at Sundance 2020) encouraged everyone to “wear my shoes” during the Latinx Unity Panel at The Latinx House last weekend in Park City, Utah. One of the major themes for the Sundance Film Festival this year was inclusion, and many discussed how we can encourage conversations about our differences through storytelling.

Along with Wilmer Valderrama, The Latinx Unity Panel included YouTuber Paula Galindo; Endeavor Content partner Alexis Garcia; co-founder of The Latinx House and filmmaker Alex Martinez Kondracke; filmmaker Frisly Soberanis; and filmmaker Alex Rivera. These key influencers discussed “New Platforms and Possibilities for Content Creation within the Latinx Community,” highlighting how the use of non-traditional platforms can spark community building. 

Wilmer gave a shout out to his fellow panelists, “You have a platform, so congratulations to everyone.”

And YouTube Influencer Paula Galindo shared how she is working with key influencers in Los Angeles and around the world to build her women empowerment brand.

Wilmer then encouraged everyone to think openly about how art and film can change the way people view the world. He emphasized; “The truth of the matter is that change will only come through conversation. You have to let people have the conversation. You can’t have the conversation at them – and a lot of our content could fall in that category.”

In support of the Sundance 2020 inclusion theme, Wilmer emphasized, “If we are saying anything at all, it’s wear my shoes… If you wear my shoes, what does that do? What does that do for you? What does that do for your family?”

When speaking about his Sundance 2020 film, “Blast Beat”, Wilmer explained, “It’s about a Columbian family coming to America during the 1990s…. And this family experiences some interesting psychological changes. I play the father, the first time I play a father to a 15 and 16-yr-old. And trying to make dad’s feel like they’re young too.” (LOLs).

In this movie, Wilmer explains that it is about a family who’s dad comes to America first, and his job is to set it up and get it ready for the rest of the family to come. It takes place during a time when technology didn’t really allow you to communicate and keep in touch like you can today. In the film, Wilmer adds; “And then something impactful and life changing happens, and they have to figure out who stays and who goes.”

The bigger meaning behind “Blast Beat”, Wilmer reflected, “is not wow, look at that family and what they are going through. What really called my attention to this movie is….There’s no agenda, no political agenda. It’s just truly wear my shoes. And I hope you wear my shoes and take them home. And then you allow your family to know what it’s like to walk in these shoes.”

Wilmer also encouraged everyone to carefully choose projects and content. He added, “There are a few projects out there that have really captured the sentiment, not what only Latinx should sound like and feel like, but when we are storytelling, when we are given the opportunity, …people who live the stories, tell it. I think that’s the secret sauce of how we put the content together that creates the engagement that eventually yields the conversation that a national community can be welcome and invited too – and most importantly want to be involved.”

Reflecting on the overall message, Wilmer closed by adding, “Whether you are brown, white, black, it doesn’t matter. We’re waving the same flag, and we should feel like we are.”