I finished first round edits to my sophomore effort, “Damaged Angels,” over the weekend. I’m very excited about the coming release of “Damaged Angels” for two reasons. First it’s my second book which means two publishers thought my work worthwhile. That does a lot to quiet the voice of doubt of insecurity in my head. It doesn’t silence it mind you, just makes it whisper, which is fine; I can deal with that. And second the stories in this collection are very dear to me. I wrote them to give voice to the invisible, those conspicuously absent from mainstream fiction: the drug addicts and hustlers, the mentally ill, the confused and the men who fall in love with them. In particular I wanted to tell the stories of several boys, hustlers, all of them -- these boys who “appeared on no one’s census; no one claimed them on the ‘dependents’ line of their tax form; no mother came looking for them at ten o’clock, ordering them to bed."

I wanted to draw them from “the violence of the electric night in which they were drawn together and torn apart,” shine a light on them, tell the stories of these charming damaged boys who, I sometimes fed and bought cigarettes and gave a place to sleep, to rest, providing a respite from the mean, mean streets. So when I got an email from two independent filmmakers from NYC, Cati and Mike Gonzalez, asking me to review their film about LGBT youth on the streets of New York, I was intrigued. Here were two other people attempting to give voice to the invisible.

Cati and Mike Gonzalez are working on an LGBT film called "Prince & Ekaj.” The film, written and directed by Cati tells the story of two LGBT latino teenagers, the eponymous Prince & Ekaj. Ekaj runs away from home because he is rejected by his family because of his sexuality. Prince is a self taught street hustler who wanders the streets of NYC at night looking to make money any way he can in order to survive another day. Both homeless, they meet by chance, and come to realize they can depend on each other. They recognize how rare this is in a city filled with hate, crime, homelessness drugs, and prostitution. Like the characters in Damaged Angels, Prince and Ekaj are determined to make a place for themselves in the world of unbroken men.

It was this commonality between their film and my book that made me watch the movie trailer (http://prince-ekaj-the-movie.tumblr.c... then reach out to Cati and Mike. I was so excited and impressed with what I saw that I asked them to share their story of the film’s journey here.

Who are Cati and Mike Gonzalez?

We are a couple who have been together for sixteen years. I (Cati) am a photographer with twenty years experience shooting portraits and fashion spreads for magazines such as, I.D., Spin, New York, Interview, Seventeen, Mademoiselle, Vibe, French Photo, Spanish Vogue, El Pais, and Libèration. I have also done album covers for Sony, Warner Bros Music, Atlantic records, and others.

I started writing this script and directing it in the last couple of years. Mike is co-producer and editor. We have teamed up in a joint collaboration under the name "Cati and Mike Gonzalez Films." And we have formed a film company, along with partners, called "Tompkins Square Park Films." In addition to "Prince & Ekaj," we have several other future projects in the works.

Why this particular movie? What inspired you to tell this particular story?

The inspiration to write the screenplay came I met Jake, an LGBT teen. I got to know him over a year and a half. I’m a fashion photographer so I took some pictures of him. A couple of model agents were very interested in him. But, he refused to adapt to the "industry standard" look of the male models, and insisted he wanted to model as a girl. After knowing him for a year, I gave up trying to make him a model. But by then I cared about him and realized that it takes a lot of guts to stand up for yourself and your beliefs, especially at such a young age.

I met Gio, the other actor in the film around the same time, and I was also so fascinated by his looks and personality. They both would tell me their stories, and I decided to make a film based partially on their true experiences and partially on my own personal views.

What do you hope to accomplish with this film?

By making this film, we hope to reach all the parents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, and others, that these youth's lives desperately depend on. We hope that by making this film, we can reach out to those who fail to understand the rejection, discrimination, and abuse these kids go through.

Also, we aim to reach the same kids that are being represented in this film to give them more hope and a sense of pride. And, of course, we want to reach the broadest audience possible, whether LGBTQ or straight; this film is not about being gay, it's about being human.

What can readers do to help get this movie out there?

As many of you may know, It requires money and time to make a film such as this one. We've invested a lot into it already but reality is, we can't afford to pay for everything that is required to make this film such as, camera equipment, lighting, sound, rights to music, wardrobe, cast, crew, location, permits, editing, etc. The only way we can really get this film made and distributed without risking losing creative control, is by asking the public for donations and reaching as many people as we can for support. If you are interested in making a donation to our "Prince & Ekaj" fundraiser, you can do so at: http://prince-ekaj-the-movie.tumblr.com/

You talk a lot about homeless LGBT youth. What can we do to help them?

That's a great question Larry. We have set up a fundraiser to raise funds for this film which will cover for most of the pre and post production expenses. But apart from this, we've decided that for every $20 donated to our fundraiser, we'll donate $1 to the "Forty To None" project (http://fortytonone.org/) to assist in their effort to prevent homelessness among the LGBT youth.

To learn more about the Forty to None Project, which works to raise awareness of, and to bring an end to, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth homelessness, visit www.fortytonone.org

To watch the movie trailer visit: http://prince-ekaj-the-movie.tumblr.com/

Follow Cait and Mike on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CatiandMike

Other Resources

• The National Runaway Switchboard: 888-RUNAWAY
• The Trevor Lifeline: 866-488-7386