Director, John Butler revealed what it’s like to show his latest film, Papi Chulo to an Irish audience.
The comedy drama follows lonely gay weatherman, Seán and his surprising friendship with Mexican worker, Ernesto.
We chatted to John at the Irish premiere of his film at the opening night of the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival.
Speaking exclusively to Goss.ie about what it means to him to show the film to an Irish audience, John told us: “It means so much because you can bring it to a country you don’t live in, like Turin in Italy or Palm Springs, it matters of course.”
“But when you do it here it’s people you know and people you’ve grown up with and people who are temperamentally like you, and kind of bred on the same diet of rules and TV as you. So that reflects who you are in a way and it makes it much more important. It’s very crucial I would say.”
Papi Chulo is the perfect mix of comedy and drama, as John put a lighthearted twist on the captivating story.
The director told us why he decided to add a comedy element to the film:Â “I don’t really see the world in any other way. The world is like simultaneously funny and sad to me.”
“The way life is, I never really see a distinction between comedy and drama. So I’m always trying to write about those moment where the two things are happening at the same time. This film is probably the closest I’ve got to that feeling. But it feels right to me, that something is funny and sad simultaneously.”
