Latino Cinema in den USA

Pedro J. Gon­za­lez’ story, sym­bol­ic of the his­to­ry of people of Mex­i­can descent in the United States, begins in 1910 during the Mex­i­can Rev­o­lu­tion against the dic­ta­tor Por­firio Diaz. Pedro, … read more

An exper­i­men­tal fea­ture film on con­tem­po­rary Puerto Rican iden­ti­ties. In a mix of fic­tion, archival footage, inter­views and soap opera drama, the film tells the story of Clau­dia Marin, a … read more

CALAVERAS is a doc­u­men­tary on the altars that are built to remem­ber and honor the deceased on Novem­ber 1, known as ‚Dia de los Muer­tos’ (the Day of the Dead). In recent years, this His­pan­ic tra­di­tion has been adopt­ed in many U.S. cities and the altar con­cept has been expand­ed to include public exhi­bi­tions and com­mu­ni­ty altars designed to call atten­tion to social con­cerns like Aids and killings in drive-by-shootings. 

»I believe that they come and go and I also believe that they come par­tic­u­lar­ly on a spe­cial day. And many cul­tures of the world have this kind of thing where they light the way. Per­haps the smell of the choco­late liqueur and the promise of a sip of Bohemia, which he really loved, and all the lights that will be lit, will bring him back«

»There’s the think­ing among Mex­i­can Amer­i­cans, or Chi­canos, or what­ev­er we’re called, that it really doesn’t belong to anyone else, I dis­agree. You know, it belongs to every­body, cause every­body dies.« 

»I feel that, here in San Fran­cis­co, people have been given a lot of lib­er­ty to cel­e­brate Day of the Dead the way they want to. In Mexico, our pro­ces­sions are very respect­ful and somber. Here, they’re full of protests and what­ev­er goes. I don’t think that’s respect­ful to the people who have passed on, so I don’t think it’s correct.«

Denise Richards studierte Film- und Kul­tur­an­thro­polo­gie in San Fran­cis­co. CALAVERAS ist ihr erster Film. 

The music of the Rio Grande-Valley - some call it Con­jun­to others Tex-Mex or Música Norteña – is a strong ener­getic music, based pri­mar­i­ly on the accor­dion and the dri­ving … read more

Bill 187 of the Amer­i­can State of Cal­i­for­nia states that chil­dren of »ille­gal aliens« have no right to edu­ca­tion and health ben­e­fits. Film­mak­er Laura Angéli­ca Simón works as an immi­grant … read more

A tor­tilla sea­soned with a dash of magic real­ism, sprin­kled with hope, and baked on faith for twenty-three min­utes. The result: Lauren Ivy Chiong’s short film Holy Tor­tilla. A cel­e­bra­tion … read more

HOMELESS DIARIES is a video jour­ney into Tent City, a camp built by home­less orga­niz­ers and home­less people from Puerto Rico on an empty Philadel­phia lot in 1995. Negrón-Muntan­er inter­weaves … read more

In Texan com­mu­ni­ties along the Rio Grande River, there is a vibrant mix­ture of Span­ish Catholi­cisim and Indian mys­ti­cisim. For hun­dreds of years var­i­ous saints and reli­gious fig­ures have made … read more

Polkas are played in many coun­tries all over the world and the dia­ton­ic accordeon is its clas­si­cal instru­ment. Where does this music come from and how did it change during … read more

The drama­ti­za­tion of the life of an extreme­ly demand­ing maths teacher at an East LA school in a Chi­cano neigh­bour­hood: Thanks to his sever­i­ty the pupils pass the exams and … read more

The life of Gre­go­rio Cortez, in the first years of the 20th cen­tu­ry in Texas, which has become legend through innu­mer­ous songs and writ­ings is recount­ed in a mix­ture of … read more

While most Mex­i­cans are aware of the war, most Amer­i­cans know little, if noth­ing, about it. The out­come changed the des­tiny of both coun­tries. After 16 months of fierce fight­ing, … read more