Whether your only points of reference for Chicano cinema are films like Zoot Suit and Selena or whether you’re a scholar of all things Chicano on the big screen, BAMcinématek’s upcoming ¡Sí Se Puede! Pioneers of Chicano Cinema program has something for you. Curating those more well-known films alongside pioneering work from Lourdes Portillo and Sylvia Morales among others, the weeklong series serves as a celebration of documentaries and fiction films alike that have championed, questioned, celebrated and come to define Chicano identity over the past five decades. The films created by these bold voices are chronicles both of struggle – against racism, economic exploitation, police abuse – and of a vibrant culture’s history and traditions.
As BAMcinématek programmer Jesse Trussell explains, “These were necessary films at the time, and still resonate to this day, providing a voice and a point of view that are underrepresented in film. The filmmakers in this series are an inspiring generation of artists that moved seamlessly across spaces of activism, art and entertainment. At a time where xenophobia and racism run rampant in America, we can look to the work of these artists for multifaceted, humanist views of Latinx American identity.”
Check out the trailer and the full lineup below, which, yes, obviously includes two Selena-related projects as well as several projects featuring the likes of Edward James Olmos, Jimmy Smits, Lou Diamond Philips, and Esai Morales.
Of the myriad civil rights struggles that took root in the 1960s, one of the most frequently overlooked is the Chicano Movement, an ongoing fight for political, economic, and cultural recognition, the origins of which are immortalized in these empowering odes to resistance.
I am Joaquin (1969) Dir. Luis Valdez. El Teatro Campesino—the theatrical group founded by Luis Valdez in conjunction with César Chávez’s United Farm Workers—adapt the eponymous poem, a paean to Mexican-American identity that became a rallying cry of the Chicano Movement.
Si se puede (1972) Dirs. Rick Tejada-Flores & Gayanne Fietinghoff.This stirring account of political protest documents a 24-day hunger strike by César Chávez in support of Chicano farm workers’ right to strike.
La raza unida (1972) Dir. Jesús Salvador Treviño.A chronicle ofthe first national convention of La Raza Unida, the grassroots political party established to advance Chicano rights.
