Mad Bills to Pay - Film Screening

Event Description 

Join LPAC, in collaboration with LAGCC Humanities Dept. and Casa de las Américas for a free screening of Mad Bills To Pay, Written and Directed by Joel Alfonso Vargas and starring LaGuardia Community College alumni Juan Collado. 

The film screening will be followed by a talkback moderated by Jason Schafer, Film & Television Director at LaGuardia Community College and featuring members of the film's creative team.

The Team

Written and Directed by JOEL ALFONSO VARGAS 

Produced by PAOLO MARIA PEDULLÀ 

Executive Produced by CHRISTINE VACHON, GABRIEL MAYERS, JULIE WATERS, EVAN DYAL, ROBIN RICCITIELLO, JOSH PETERS, LIAM FRANCIS QUIGLEY 

​

About the Film

In a tight knit Dominican American community in The Bronx, Rico (Juan Collado) is hustling his way through the summer, selling bootleg ”nutcracker” cocktails out of a beach cooler and chasing girls without a care in the world. But when his teenage girlfriend, Destiny (Destiny Checo), begins crashing at his place with his family, turning their small apartment into a stage for their messy, complicated young love, it’s only a matter of time before they’re hit with the sobering reality of growing up too fast in a city that waits for no one. 

​

Writer-director Joel Alfonso Vargas turns his hometown into the heartbeat of his debut feature, teaming up with discovery talent Collado and Checo, to deliver a raw and deeply authentic look at life in The Bronx. With humor and grit, Vargas paints a tender portrait of the chaos and charm of urban life, and the ups and downs of youthful abandon when things take an unexpected turn.