Ian didn’t expect to wake up one morning with a chance to act in a film. Ian Enriquez of the Wellness Center caught sight of a sign outside of his house advertising a movie audition, and he just went for it.

“They were having the auditions right behind Everett Middle School in the Mission District. Since I live across the street from there, I read the sign and found out that they were looking for a guy who would like to be in the background. I thought it was a good opportunity to be part of such an important part of history,” said Enriquez.

“I even sent Facebook messages to certain students, 18 and over, that I knew of, and asked them if they were interested in being part of it. This is important to me because I wanted to be part of it. Although how I found out about it was an accident-they were registering right in front of my house.”

The movie that Enriquez is playing a part in is called Harvey Milk, after the first gay person to be elected to office in City Hall in San Francisco, back in the 70s. Harvey Milk was part of a significant movement in the city because the mayor at the time, George Moscone changed the way elections were done. The whole city didn’t vote for the same people anymore, and began voting through neighborhoods and districts.

As a result the city voted for the first African American woman and the first Asian American man. All of the sudden, people were able to represent their neighborhoods, ethnicities – everything.

Minorities started working together, and started enacting change in S.F. Unfortunately, there was one conservative white male, Dan White, who in office who felt racially outnumbered. And frustrated, assassinated both the mayor and Milk, shooting them both in the head. Both were killed, and White later went after Willie Brown and another woman. Luckily, White was not able to get to Brown, or anyone else, because he was soon arrested.

To defend himself, White claimed that he had consumed a few twinkies that day, and was stressed-out; the twinkies of which supposedly gave him a sugar rush. “Which is silly because he snuck into the building with a gun; it did not happen all of a sudden,” said Enriquez. White was sent to court, and the jury—all Caucasian—didn’t allow any minorities there. And he was proven not guilty.

”If I was to walk to City Hall and kill the mayor, I would

be guilty instantly,” said Enriquez, “Why does this guy get to be not guilty.” The city was angry so they broke the windows in City Hall, and it became a very violent time in San Francisco history.

“Since this was an important part of S.F. history and I wasn’t in the U.S. at that time, seeing as how I grew up in the

Philippines. So when I came here I heard about it, and saw the documentary about what happened here in S.F… It was a very powerful documentary that made it hard to watch. So being part of

that part of history reminded me about the movie I watched.”

“So I decided that I wanted to be part of it, and that’s why I chose to be part of the Harvey Milk. It is coming out October 2008; and hopefully, it’s an Oscar winner”