Miguel Calderon

The story of a Venezuelan family that emigrates to New York and opens an arepera restaurant. Looking to attract customers, Gloria, the mother of the family, tries adopting American business practices while also seeking customers among the local Venezuelan community. But the Venezuelan community is politically divided.

Tropical Vulture is a cross-generational project which highlights the artistic influences between George Kuchar, a Bay Area legend of independent filmmaking, and Mexican artist Miguel Calderón. Tropical Vulture is an experimental narrative video, co-directed by both artists, and blends Hollywood glamour and drama with an all-too-real life approach, which creates and inspires a counterpoint of unattainable desire against unbearable actuality. The video, shot on location in Acapulco, utilizes a “lo-fi” aesthetic and playful use of nonprofessional actors. Tropical Vulture is entrenched in corruption, tourism, and post-colonialism and it uses a loose narrative to create a portrait of a relationship between student and teacher.