To kick off Pride Month, I was inspired to create a project of compiled interview articles where actresses discuss their roles in some iconic queer films.
These films really spoke to me and did an incredible job of storytelling in a poignant and relatable way.
I recently spoke with the lovely and talented Sari Sanchez about her role in Signature Move.
Signature Move was the first of its kind in tackling not only a story about queer love, but one that confronted identity issues, religion, generational trauma, cultural differences and ultimately, acceptance.
Building off its predecessors, The Fish Child, Circumstance, Mosquita y Mari, and The Firefly, all of which confronted dilemmas stemming from engrained cultural beliefs, Signature Move added new depth by featuring the love story of women who come from vastly different cultures. The film explores how they navigated acceptance not only within their specific cultures and families, but also between one another. This is a story that isn’t frequently told in the women loving women genre, which made it that much more relevant and allowed for the audience to resonate with the subject matter in a new light.
The film manages to convey an important, relevant story in a lighthearted way, and I believe that is what makes it so successful in its pursuit.
Check out the interview below!
Gabrielle Bisaccia: I read that you grew up in Chicago. What’re your thoughts on deep dish pizza and do you prefer it over a New York slice?
Sari Sanchez: For anyone who may be from Chicago, there is an important distinction from being from the city of Chicago, or from a close suburb. I’m from a very close suburb, probably the closest one before your cross the city lines. I love deep dish. Just to settle the debate, I really feel like deep dish is its own thing. We grew up with Lou Malnati’s really close by, which is a famous and well-known pizza place. I’ve had New York pizza, but that’s a different thing…I think they can coexist peacefully!
GB: I saw some cute pictures of your dog and cat on Instagram. How do they get along?
SS: Both my cat and dog are rescues and they have a lot of personality! We had our cat first, so when we introduced our dog to the situation, we didn’t do any of the things like smelling the blanket to get acquainted. We just put them in a room and let them figure it out. They do get along and I think they are both very grateful to have a really loving, great home, so they totally coexist. I will say that my cat will instigate way more, but they get along great and are the joys of my life!
GB: What I loved about Signature Move was its ability to tell an important, relevant story in a light-hearted way. What were your initial thoughts when you read the script?
SS: I loved it. I was excited because it was very female-forward. I hadn’t read the script when I auditioned, because when you audition, very rarely will you have access to the script. You know what the project is going to be about and a handful of people who will be involved, and what they are looking for with the role, but that’s it. I loved that it was written by women and what I really liked about the script was the audition scene, which was the one in the bar. I loved that scene, just for what it was; nothing put on. It was just about someone meeting someone, being attracted to one another, and not knowing where it’s going to go. As soon as I read that scene, I thought, ok this is going to be fun. The way the scene was written, it was so clear who Fawzia’s character was, and so clear who Alma was. I loved the mothers, I loved the culture; I’m Mexican on my dad’s side of the family, but I had not had much experience with any South Asian culture in any way, shape, or form. So, getting to work on this and sort of discovering South Asian culture in the way that my character, Alma, was discovering it, was very real.
GB: How did you prepare for the role?
SS: What’s funny is that I remember realizing that everything I needed to know was in that audition room. The reason was that I looked just like this; I love makeup, I love lipstick, and there was no doubt in my mind that as soon as I read the bar scene, it was just me in that scene and I knew I had it. When I sat in that audition room and I saw the choices of the others in how they approached the character, I had a moment of thinking, ‘Should I have better prepared for this? Should I have worn my hair up and taken off my jewelry? Am I gay enough?!’, but there wasn’t time. I didn’t really know what Fawzia [Mirza] looked like or what her energy was, but what mattered was what was on the page and what was on the page was that you had this sort of skittish, anxiety-ridden, self-orbiting character and then this other woman who was so present and extroverted, and that was me. That was the only preparation I did; I had a moment in that room thinking that I missed the mark, but then I realized that I didn’t. Fawzia’s energy is very attractive, and I was attracted to that. So, I didn’t even have to do anything; she made my job very easy.
GB: What was it like working with writer, director, producer, Fawzia Mirza?
SS: I didn’t know Fawzia [Mirza], I had just heard a little about her and saw a picture of her, but once I read the script, particularly the bar scene, I knew that we were going to be good together. I got her vibe and her energy, and it was so well written within the script for Signature Move. Fawzia is very much like her character, Zaynab, in that she has a similar energy. It was so fun to work with her and I think you could just feel that in the room when we were shooting.
GB: Were the family dynamics and cultural values of your character, which were represented in the film, similar to that of your life experiences?
SS: For sure! I’ve spent so much time around Mexican culture, more in Mexico though, because 99% of my family reside in Mexico in a tiny town. I think that I understand that culture so well because I understand the importance of family and food and the mother-daughter relationship with regards to expectations. The closeness and the friendship with the mom and the relationship with the brothers and the food and music is very familiar to me.
In my family I’m lucky enough that while I think the matriarchs of my family in Mexico would probably bump heads initially with a woman being gay, I think it would end up being very much like the dynamic in the film with Charin [Alvarez], who plays my mom, where she wouldn’t care as long as you believe in Jesus and you’re Catholic! I understood that Mexican family dynamic and I loved that it focused on relationships with moms.
GB: The film won several awards including Best Feature Film at the Paris Lesbian and Feminist Film Festival and the Grand Jury Award at LA Outfest. It also holds a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Did you know the impact the film would have on the community?
SS: No…it was a little film that we shot for about nine days on a shoestring budget. I think that because of the time we made it because of what was going on politically, with women, with Mexicans, and with the president, it hit home in a certain way. There were so many strong women in this little movie that we made clashing two cultures about mangos and wrestling. It was just fun and light and real. All of the people that came up to us after the festivals would tell us that they really liked it! I think it was really the colors and the way it was shot and the textures and fabrics of the Indian clothes and the food and the wrestling, which was all really rich and special about the film. The rest of it just had this sort of normalcy about it that was light and needed at that time. What was the most powerful and overwhelming for me was watching hundreds of people watch the project I did and walk out of there feeling something or telling me something really personal about their lives.
GB: Would you like to be involved in any other queer projects in the future?
SS: Hell yeah! I’d love to do it and I love being around so many women on set and let me tell you, stuff got done. Everyone was always prepared and working with so many women was really a vibe. It was really fun, and it was special and unique. This will not be my last queer film at all.
Check out Signature Move on Tubi, Amazon Prime, and YouTube
Check out Sari’s Instagram
Be on the lookout of the next interview in the Pride Series, coming soon!
