“Ovarian Psycos” is about a new generation of fierce, unapologetic, and feminist women of color from Eastside Los Angeles who confront injustice, build community, and redefine identity through a raucous, irreverently named bicycle crew: The Ovarian Psycos Cycle Brigade.
Through the personal stories of the crew’s rabble-rousing founder, Xela de la X, activist, poet M.C., and single mother; street artist and original Ovarian Psyco, Andi Xoch, and a bright-eyed young woman from the neighborhood, Evelyn (Evie), the film traces how the “Ovas” emerged from the diverse, youthful, Latino, working-class, immigrant neighborhoods of Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles, a community situated within the historic legacy of the Chicano/a Civil Rights Movement that emerged from L.A. in the late 1960s.
For members Andi and Evelyn, the Ovas speak to the broken, to the uneducated, and to those who live the hard life. Meanwhile, the pressure to raise a young daughter by herself ultimately puts Xela at a crossroads with her own role in the Ovas. But through all the obstacles they invariably face, the group as a whole becomes a rising force, as these young women continue to call out to new riders to join them on their journey: “Whose streets? Our streets!”
On CPTV: Monday, March 27 at 11 p.m.