This summer it’s all about saving money and supporting important films for our comunidad! I write this knowing that sometimes to support important films we may spend a little extra at film festivals, and if you live in an area where film festivals are coming (or have been) it’s def worth the energy to check out what they have to offer.

Mala and I will try to bring you some highlights of the film festivals we are going to this summer and year. In the meantime, here are a few films that have caught my attention and that I’d love to see (note that I’ve only seen some of these films and you can too, so they are not reviews), pero if any VL readers have seen any of these films I haven’t, please tell us your thoughts!

The first set of films is offered to view for free by the organization FUTURESTATES which are:

short narrative films created by established filmmakers and emerging talents transforming today’s complex social issues into visions about what life in America will be like in decades to come.

FUTURESTATES has also created a web resource for educators to use the films with grades 9-12 (but let’s be honest these are useful for any age!). The curriculums focus specifically on film and media.

The first film is one that was shared with me while I was away at a wedding. It is created, written, and directed by NYU alumna A. Sayeeda Clarke. Her film WHITE is in one word: phenomenal! It’s a short about 15 minutes long, and you may watch it online for free here. Clarke’s film takes place in the near future in NYC where the currency is skin color/melanin. She questions our ideas of identity, skin color, importance, class, natural resources, community, race, ethnicity, health, parenting, work, capitalism, global warming, and survival. The lead character is Bato, a Black Puerto Rican (yes, he’s written as that and indicates his identity in the film as such!), an activist in his community and expectant father. When the midwife working with his partner shares that she will have to give birth in a hospital setting, the couple must now find the money to pay the entrance fee to have a safe birthing outcome for their child. Bato must now find the money to do so.

The fact that there is a LatiNegro at the center of this story warms my heart. That we remain a part of the FUTURE is important for us to see and recognize. It also shares an important narrative of how white supremacy will/may continue in the future, but in new forms. This is one of those films where after seeing it I was so uncomfortable yet calm. I wanted more of the story and that alone is what makes this short film one of my favorites!  Below is an interview with A. Sayeeda Clarke discussing her film:

Along a similar idea regarding global warming, the film TIA & MARCO by Annie J. Howell follows Tia, a pregnant border patrol working the US-Mexico border who discovers Marco who sneaks into her home. We watch as she packs after her final day of work and talks with her partner living in NYC (a racially white man who one could define as “liberal”) and interacts with Marco who she has detained and is waiting for him to be picked up and sent back “home.” You may also watch this film online for free. And it is also posted below.

Also of interest may be THE OTHER SIDE by Amyn Kaderali which discusses immigration, but of racially white people leaving the US where unemployment is over 80%, violence is in abundance, but food and water is not. We watch as a family of one father and two children try to make it over the US-Mexico border to Mexico where jobs and food await as well as the matriarch of the family who immigrated earlier. We watch as they interact with other folks trying to get into Mexico, border patrol, and trying to reunify their family. Below is the film, which reminds me a lot of the Pharcyde video for the song “Runnin’“:

While watching this, part of me was like: I see in the future ish is hard for racially white folks, but they still get across with limited harm and violence and easily find their family…..if only it were that easy.

All of the films on FUTURESTATES are amazing resources, these are just a few that center Latino and Latino experiences. I got to show special love to Greg Pak who creates marvelous films. I mean sensational-if-I-had-dough-like-some-producers-I’d-fund-his-work-for-sure sensational! He’s the director of ROBOT STORIES (if you have no idea what I’m talking about I don’t know what to tell you about yourself). His film MISTER GREEN also focuses on global warming in the very near future (2014) and how scientists attempt to find solutions when it is much too late. Some of these solutions the main character, Mason Park, undersecretary for the US Department of Global Warming, finds himself an non-consensual part of: changing the human race.

A film making the festival circuits that I saw being shared on Tumblr is HERMAFRODITA by Alberto Xavier. Below is the synopsis in English followed by Spanish:

Based on a true story, HERMAFRODITA (Winner of the Audience Choice Awards at the Chicago latino International Film festival 2009) is a powerful drama about the politics of sexual identity. Set amongst the picturesque mountains of the village of San Jose de Ocoa in the Dominican Republic, the film centers on the figure of Maria (Marilu Acosta),a hermaphrodite born in the village, who suffers social discrimination. Set on finding a new life, Maria embarks on a journey that involves crossing the paths with a man (Garibaldi Reyes) fleeing the city of Santo Domingo after a murder and who may become her lover.

Basado en vida reale, HERMAFRODITA (Ganadora del Premio de la Audiencia en Chicago Latino Int. Film Festival 2009) es un poderoso drama acerca de la política de la identidad sexual. Realizada entre las pintorescas montañas de la aldea de San José de Ocoa en la República Dominicana, la película se centra en la figura de María (Marilú Acosta), una hermafrodita nacida en el pueblo, que sufre discriminación social. En la búsqueda de una nueva vida, María se embarca en un viaje donde se ínter cruzan los caminos con un hombre (Garibaldi Reyes) que huyen de la ciudad de Santo Domingo después de un asesinato, pudiendo llegar a ser este el amor de su vida.

This film has already won several awards while touring at film festivals worldwide. Below is the trailer. This film I have NOT seen but I would like to, that said I’m not sure, beyond the synopsis, what the discussion and representation of intersex people (the more appropriate and preferred term vs. “hermaphrodite” (yes even in Spanish it’s still derogatory and limiting). If you had the opportunity to see it please share what your thoughts were about the film!

I have no idea if this film is in connection to the 5-ARD (5-alpha-reductase deficiency) experience (also referred to as “guevedoche”) which has been reported to occur in higher numbers among some people living in certain parts of the Dominican Republic. A film called GUEVOTE: THE WAY I FEEL IS WHO I AM created in 1999 that interviewed several people in the Dominican Republic who experience 5-ARD.

Finally, a film that I heard about last year is making its way around some film festivals. “blacktino” by Aaron Burns which many consider a “biracial” film, which I find interesting, but then again, I think that “Latino” is more an ethnic identifier than a racial classification as Latinos may be of any race. In any event, this film centers on Stefan who is identified as a overweight, teenage “nerd” and his experiences in high school. My initial response to this “teen comedy” is that everybody is telling Stefan what to do: the racially white woman introducing the film and his racially white teacher telling him she wants him to write a play. This is just from the trailer, I have not seen the film (and I’ll only see it for free, yeah I said it, the trailer was enough to turn me off). However, I recognize that I may be wrong, and if I am please tell me! I also am a strong believer in “Danny Trevo Saves The Day” and that he may do that in this film. Below is the official synopsis and trailer:

“blacktino” is a dark teen comedy about an overweight half-black, half-hispanic nerd named Stefan Daily. He was raised by his black grandmother in a medium sized suburb of Austin, TX. Struggling to find his place in a mostly white high school, Stefan finds sanctuary among the eclectic mix of social outcasts in the school’s Theatre Department. In the tradition of the great teen comedies of the last thirty years “blacktino” will ensure that the torch of “teen angst” continues to burn bright.

Are there other films we missed and could include on this list? What are your thoughts about the ones listed if you’ve seen them?