Cassandra, a movie by Roger Ross Williams, has its world premiere at Sundance 2023

In theaters September 15:
CASSANDRO

Cassandro is the new scripted film from Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Roger Ross Williams, starring Gael García Bernal. It had its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, and will be in select U.S. theaters starting September 15 and streaming globally on Prime Video starting September 22.

Gael García Bernal in Cassandro

An outsider turned unlikely superstar

Cassandro is the new scripted film from Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Roger Ross Williams.

It stars Gael García Bernal as Saúl Armendáriz, an American-born luchador wrestler, who grew up near the U.S.-Mexican border in El Paso, Texas.

Being gay in this machismo-driven industry, he creates a flamboyant persona known as Cassandro, the Liberace of Lucha Libre. And against all odds, he becomes one of Mexican wrestling’s most unique heroes, not just upending the macho wrestling world, but also his own life…

Cassandro will be in select U.S. theaters starting September 15 and streaming globally on Prime Video starting September 22.

Roger Ross Williams on set

Rousing portrait of sexual identity

Roger Ross Williams about Cassandro: “I have always been attracted to telling the stories of outsiders. The remarkable real-life tale of Cassandro, a gay Mexican wrestler who lives on the border of the US and Mexico, immediately grabbed me. Here was a true outsider, a gay man in a deeply Catholic culture who rose to fame in the macho world of Lucha Libre wrestling, not by hiding his sexuality, but by making it central to his performance.

My own life experience as a gay, black man has made me realize the importance of telling stories we don’t usually hear. The true story of Cassandro, Saúl Armendáriz, was one I knew I wanted to tell from the moment I met him.”

The LA Times: “You’re about to hear a lot about Roger Ross Williams. He’s ready for his moment.”

“I’m so grateful to be in the position I am in this business, to be able to create series, documentary features, now scripted narrative features — to be able to do it all,” he says. “That’s a privilege, and I want to extend that privilege to everyone like me. I want them all to have the same opportunities that I have.”

Read Jen Yamato’s full article with photos by Justin Jun Lee at The LA Times

Traveling while black