We have known immigrant rights activists Julio Salgado and Jesús Iñiguez for years, and this week, we got a YouTube email about their new “Osito” web series, so obviously we checked it out.
FYI, the videos are raw but they are real, and to be honest with you, just seeing two very committed activists just talking about life and its challenges was refreshing. Here is the latest episode, published today.
We exchanged messages with the guys to find out more about what inspired them to go out and create a web series on their own:
Julio: So this is the basic storyline of the show: “Osito” is a weekly web series from DreamersAdrift.com that follows the life of Julio, a 30 year-old freelance artist living in the Bay area. Julio lives with Jesús, a 30 year-old social media type who dabbles in writing and making music. Part real life, part fiction, and a lot of bullshit, this series aims to make fun of life, love, and everything in between.
The reason I wrote these series was sort of a response to that new show “Looking” from HBO. The premise of that show is about a group of mostly white gay men living in the Castro, San Franciso’s hella gay district.
But when I saw that show, much like the time I saw “Will & Grace,” it was disappointing to not be able to see myself or all of the other queers I’ve met here in the Bay area. Our stories are not really portrayed there.
It’s no surprise though. So I came up with this idea of, well, telling my own story. Which is something we’ve been doing with DreamersAdrift for a while now.
We also wanted to explore the relationship between a hetero man and a queer man as roommates. There’s this idea that Latino males are not very accepting of the gay lifestyle, and to a certain extent it’s true. But we’re pretty sure that Jesús and I are not the only homo-hetero friendship in the world and we wanted to show this in the series.
As always, we use dark humor to tell our stories and some of the shit we talk about on the daily.
Jesús, anything else you might want to say?
Jesús: I’m just the token hetero guy in a gay drama.
Julio: Hahaha!
Jesús: hahaha jk jk I like to think that Jesús (in “Osito”) is the counterbalance to Julio’s character in that he’s more willing to explore problematic topics from the outside without worrying too much about being politically correct. He may say offensive things, but in the way that he presents his point of view sheds light to how he thinks through these very sensitive topics and with the use of dark and subtle humor, one catches a glimpse of an underlying perspective that bubbles beneath the surface of these conversations that are happening all around us. Julio plays more of the centered and grounded individual, and their dynamic helps realize a relationship that’s balanced, accepting, and loving in that friendly sort of way. They’re just two guys helping each other figure out their way through this crazy dark world.
Our friends at Remezcla ran a piece about the series this past August. Check it out, and if you want to get the latest “Osito” episodes, just subscribe to DreamersAdrift on YouTube.
