2021 LUZ Filmmaker Offerings

Thursday, May 27, 2021, 7:00 PM — LINK TO REGISTER

AIDS in the Barrio (USA, 1990, 28 min)

Directed by Frances Negrón-Muntaner and Peter Biella
Produced by Alba Martinez and Frances Negrón-Mutaner
Executive Producer – David Haas

Filmed in Philadelphia during the height of the AIDS epidemic in the United States, this film is an insightful document of the perception, attitude, and impact of AIDS within Hispanic-American communities during the early nineties. Biella and Negrón-Muntaner explore the AIDS crisis as it is felt by community members of “el barrio”, revealing opinions on sexuality, gender roles, prejudices against homosexuality, and the prevalence of drug abuse in the community.

Brincando El Charco: Portrait of a Puerto Rican (USA, 1994, 55 min)

Timelessly sophisticated in both form and content, Brincando El Charco contemplates the notion of identity through the experiences of a Puerto Rican woman living in the US. Using fiction, archival footage, processed interviews and soap opera drama, Negrón-Muntaner tells the story of Claudia Marin, a middle-class, light-skinned Puerto Rican artist who is attempting to construct a sense of community in America.

$10 non-members
$8 Students / Seniors (use code 'student')
$5 Scribe members (use code 'member')

In collaboration with the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival

Wednesday, June 2nd, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM — LINK TO REGISTER

What endless worlds can be dreamed when we purposefully involve our communities in collective media-making?

In this special learning session, Frances Negrón-Muntaner will discuss the origins and impact of her Valor y Cambio (value and change) project and its intersection with community storytelling and decolonial joy, a form of joy that arises when individuals and communities “feel” the possibility of a different future where colonialism no longer rules over their lives.

In 2018, Frances Negrón-Muntaner and Sarabel Santos-Negrón conceived of Valor y Cambio, a community storytelling and solidarity project first introduced in Puerto Rico. The project encouraged community members to record a story of what they value, in exchange participants were given a peso of Puerto Rico, a form of community currency which could be kept or used at participating local businesses. (https://www.valorycambio.org/)

Frances Negrón Muntaner is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, cultural critic, curator and scholar. With an interest in Latinx, Caribbean, decolonial art and media studies—Negrón Muntaner’s work spans several fields. Among her books and publications are: Boricua Pop: Puerto Ricans and the Latinization of American Culture (CHOICE Award, 2004), The Latino Media Gap (2014), and Sovereign Acts: Contesting Colonialism in Native Nations and Latinx America (2017). Her films include Brincando el charco (1994), War for Guam (2015), and Valor y Cambio, the Movie (2021). In 2008, the United Nations' Rapid Response Media Mechanism recognized her as a global expert in the areas of mass media and Latin/o American studies. Currently a professor at Columbia University, she is the founder of Columbia’s Latino Arts and Activist archive, and Media and Idea Lab.

$20 non-members
FREE for Scribe members & PHLAFF ticket holders

In partnership with the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival

The 24-hour viewing window will be May 8 at 7 PM through May 9 at 7 PM.

This is an exclusive sneak preview prior to the film's world premiere at the 2021 Philadelphia Latino Film Festival.

Shot during the COVID-19 pandemic, Calle de la Resistencia is an emotional look at the struggle of the Puerto Rican people to regain its dignity. With a unique blend of real-life footage and staged musical production, the film tells the tale of nine Puerto Ricans whose lives were forever changed by Maria, the deadly hurricane that left thousands of families without a home and millions without access to water, food, electricity, medicine and communications. Two years later, fate brings these nine people together to the epicenter of the protests that ultimately resulted in the resignation of the Puerto Rican governor, a symbolic triumph of the people over corruption, albeit short-lived. Featuring 20 original songs, Calle de la Resistencia picks up the pieces of a tragic history and transforms them into hope.

Denise Blasor
Puerto Rico // 2021
Musical / Drama
79 minutes

Philadelphia Latino Film Festival Director Marángeli Mejía-Rabell speaks with Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes on her extensive and expansive career in film, theatre and her collaboration with Lin-Manuel Miranda for the film version of the musical In the Heights, in theaters June 11th.

Quiara Alegria Hudes is a West Philadelphia native who is the author of plays such as Water By the Spoonful, essays such as High Tide of Heartbreak, and Corey Couldn’t Take It Anymore, and recently released her memoir: My Broken Language. Hudes and her cousin founded Emancipated Stories, a platform where incarcerated people can share one page of their life story with the world. Hudes also founded the Latinx Casting Manifesto, a conversational performance on the intersection of womanhood and Latin identity, with her sister.

VIEW Q+A HERE