Have you ever wondered what it’s like to ride the top of a very fast moving train? Have you always wanted to get up-close to the flora and fauna found in Mexico’s bio-diverse jungles? Filmmaker and dissident Greg “Gringoyo” Berger might just be your guide to a no-frills tour of Central America. You know, legit, off-the-beaten path, like a real paisano. In order to do so, however, he’s going to need some of your entitled and over-speculated American greenbacks.
Berger is the Head Gringo behind short satire films such as Narco-Mania and Frack U. Mexico. He’s a retired documentary filmmaker and newborn fabulist, who came to the conclusion that you can create more effective social change by making people laugh about the sad stuff, than by making people cry about shit they already know is fucked up.
In Frack U. Mexico, for example, Berger plays Joe T. Hodo, a fictional Texan tycoon who’s come to Mexico to drill for natural gas. In Narco-Mania, he plays Gringo Starr, a Spanish-speaking Beatle who’s intent on using Yoko Ono as a way to break-up the Mexican drug cartel. In his next venture, a yet to be titled film with a concept Berger is reticent to reveal, he will be tackling popular media’s biased view of immigrants traveling north through Central America.
According to Berger’s Kickstarter page, journalists have thus far been reporting stories that support a victim narrative by actively seeking and featuring the most destitute and vicious. Those are the ones they consider to be “real immigrants,” as opposed to the fake ones that just find themselves loitering somewhere along the trails of Chiapas looking for the USS Enterprise. Berger asserts that the story these pendejo news outlets are missing is that of a cross-national movement of activists demanding local governments protect those traveling within their borders, as well as immigrants finding ways to organize and advocate for themselves. These stories are full of hope and have larger goals than to merely sell banner ads and air-time. They’re fighting to end the corruption of Mexican authorities, for example. Not to mention that leaving your home country is an act of valor and resistance in and of itself. However, in order for Greg “Gringoyo” Berger to tell these stories, and properly make fun of the gringos in the process, he’s going to need the help of some Dan D. Neros.
Follow their Kickstarter campaign and make a contribution to a film that will keep you informed as well as entertained at the expense of the yanqui capitalists. Consider it a type of irony: using dollars to make fun of the sensationalist economy that generates them. More bang for your buck? We think so.