“Dallas Lowriders: A Family Legacy” By German Torres
A formerly incarcerated Father, reconnects with his youngest Daughter and his greater Family, through their love of Lowriding.
Mark Mata details the history of Lowriding in Dallas, TX and recalls how people have perceived him in the past, due to the police stereotyping Latino men with tattoos and expensive cars as street criminals.
He admits, he would eventually fall victim to the pitfalls of his negative surroundings and had to due his time as an inmate in prison. While incarcerated, he left behind his wife and kids. His youngest daughter, Mercedes, would spend over a decade of her life without him.
After doing his time, he vowed to make it up to his family and focused his time on working on cars to make a living. Despite working so hard for his family, Mercedes still had trouble opening up to him and accepting their father-daughter relationship. But Mark never gave up.
One day, Mark finished working on his own personal lowrider and he asked Mercedes to hop in for a cruise. And that’s when things turned a corner.
Mercedes got a first taste of what Mark felt when he was a young boy, “the top was down, she had her hair flying in the wind, everyone giving us thumbs up on the road – and it was just like freedom”.
From that point on, Mark, Mercedes and the rest of their lowriding family have become closer than ever before.
FROM THE DIRECTOR
“The production of this film started from a curiosity of learning more about how Lowriding in Dallas, Texas got started.
Once I was connected with Mark Mata (leader of the Dallas Lowriders car club), he told me about how his family had been lowriding since the early 1970s and he graciously shared one the biggest moments of his life - where he was incarcerated for over ten years. That was a decade of being away from his kids, his wife and lowriding.
This is where the true heart of the film spawned. It became the driving force for a story about redemption, a father rekindling his relationship with his youngest daughter and his greater family; through a shared love and legacy of lowriding.”
—German Torres
Credits
Crew
Director/DP // German Torres @directedbygerm
Produced by Orange
B Camera Operator // Christian Saccardo @shot_by_christian
AC // Alvin Yupe @vis4vinn
Gaffer Ryan Sagote // @ryansagote
Sound Mixer // Maria Torres @sliceofmaria
Production Assistant // Jeremy Pesina @jeremyptx
Production Assistant // Bryan Perez @bryanperez____
BTS Photographer // Martha Rincon @shotbythrive
Edit/Color German Torres @directedbygerm
Cast & Dallas Lowrider Family
@dlr_hard_times
@cedessmata
@riahhmata
Bernadette Mata
@dallaslowriders
@mister_214dlr
@andrewm_dlr
@sunnylovan_tattoo
@worldsurgical17flat
@matas_art
Roy Mata
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