Saturday Church (2017)
Ulysses (Luka Kain) makes new friends in writer/director Damon Cardasis’ (@damoncardasis on Instagram) 2017 film SATURDAY CHURCH. The film is a coming of age story, set in New York City, about a teenage boy who begins to build a new family of supportive queer and trans friends after facing rejection at home.
Ulysses (Luka Kain) is bullied at school, by his peers, and also by his Aunt at home because they think he is too feminine. His family doesn’t accept him so he heads into the city to seek out a place where he belongs. He follows a young trans woman named Ebony (MJ Rodriguez) to the Christopher Street Pier where she introduces him to her friends Dijon (Indya Moore), Heaven (Alexia Garcia), and Raymond (Marquis Rodriguez). Ebony invites Ulysses to join them for ‘Saturday Church,’ which is a church program that feeds and provides shelter to queer youths.
Writer/director Cardasis based the film on a similar program he volunteered for, which was introduced to him by his mother who is an Episcopal priest in the Bronx. Cardasis isn’t overly religious, but he thought it was interesting that many of the queer youths attending the church’s program were abandoned by family because of religion – but were also now being supported by it. “It’s like two sides of a religious coin,” Cardasis said in a 2018 interview with Vice.
The characters in SATURDAY CHURCH are based on the experiences of queer youths living in New York, some of whom appear in the film. While volunteering Cardasis stated that he “met with the kids over the course of a couple months and listened to their stories. I also did the volunteer work of serving the kids food and cleaning up—anything that needed to be done. These kids have gone through tragic, horrible things at such young ages—abuse, having to live on the streets, everything they have to do to survive—and yet they were still finding community, strength, and joy where they could while caring for one another. I found that really inspiring.”
SATURDAY CHURCH is available on DVD, streaming on Prime and Hoopla (Canada/USA) Tubi & Peacock (USA) Freevee (UK) & for rent/purchase on Amazon.
SATURDAY CHURCH
2017. USA.
Director: Damon Cardasis
Screenplay: Damon Cardasis
Starring: Luka Kain, MJ Rodriguez, Margot Bingham, Regina Taylor, Marquis Rodriguez, Indya Moore and Alexia Garcia
