Críticas Magazine

Bruce Jensen

Multicultural cinema sources
July 15, 2008

Summertime is movie time.  I wouldn't mind being in an air-conditioned movie house right now watching Hellboy II.  But, you know how it is: with ticket prices slated to rise by another two or three bucks because of the price of popcorn, according to UC Santa Cruz prof Dr. Ricard Gil, I would just as soon find a video to watch at home with the fan spinning full blast.

Dr. Gil knows movie concessions, but his colleagues up the coast in Berkeley are the ones who know the movies.  The Media Resources Center at UC Berkeley has compiled tremendous videographies, lists of films with descriptive notes. 

Check out their Chicano/Latino Studies list and you'll see what I mean.  It has a couple hundred documentaries you might not know about yet, several of them with clips you can view online.

Another list called Latinos/Chicanos highlights feature films, TV series episodes, and even some cartoons.  It's another large assortment; you'll be surprised what you find there.  It's part of a set titled Movies, Race, and Ethnicity which includes long annotated videographies of films about African Americans, Arabs & the Middle East, Asians/Asian Americans (South, Southeast, and East Asians; Pacific Islanders), Latinos/Chicanos, Jews, Native Americans, Interracial Marriage & Relationships, Gay & Lesbian Studies, European and Scandinavian Immigrants in the U.S., and Immigrants Within Europe/Other European Cultural Outsiders.

That amazing film center also has a list covering Latin America: Mexico, the Caribbean, South America.

When it comes to finding out where to buy such films, most of which never show up on your local retailer's racks, Mary Sue Brown of the Alternative Media Task Force of ALA's Social Responsibilities Round Table last year put together a terrific compendium called Beyond Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  You'll find distributors of Arab and East German films there, as well as many others like these:

LAVA www.latinamericanvideo.org LAVA works to facilitate the flow of media from south to north by archiving and distributing feature films and documentaries made by Latin American and Latino artists. Three recent Cuban documentary films include Conga Lessons at the Bay of Pigs, Woman is of the House and Man is of the Street, and Marry Me.

SubCine www.subcine.com SubCine describes itself as “the only source for Independent Latino Film and Video, an artist run and artist owned collective of Latino film and video makers –challenging, experimental, and progressive.Two recent multiple award winners are The Lost Reels of Pancho Villa and Palante, Siempro Palante! The Young Lords.

Posted by Bruce Jensen on July 15, 2008 | Comments (0)