>> From WXXI News.

This is Connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour is made at the movies as NPR has reported, Latinos love the movies making up on average, 22% of the American box office on any given day.

But when it comes to horror movies, Latinos make up nearly half the box office.

Why is that?

NPR's Code Switch examined it.

They spoke to Edwin Pagan, who created Latin Horror.com, a website for Latino horror files.

Pagan offered these explanations.

Quote, traditionally, we have always loved ghost stories and the macabre and gothic tales.

They're just sewn into the fabric of who we are as a people.

Many Latinos grew up hearing about scary characters like El Cuco, El Chupacabra, La Llorona, a woman who drowns herself and her children after being scorned by her husband and her ghost wanders the earth, wailing and snatching up children to replace her own.

We have this intimacy with the supernatural that makes the Latino psyche ripe for horror thrills, end quote.

Wow.

Well, let's go to the movies this hour.

And we're not just talking horror.

We're talking about the full film series called presente, the Latin film series that is underway now.

The Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman Museum is hosting the series over the next month, and it's a celebration of Latin culture, history, contributions to film.

We'll talk about what films are going to be featured in the series coming up here.

We will talk about issues like whitewashing in film, whitewashing in in horror in all genres, and what they want you to know about contributions here.

So let me welcome a full studio here.

Annette Ramos from the Rochester Latino Theatre Company.

Welcome back here.

>> Thank you Evan, it's wonderful to be back with my WXXI family.

>> It's nice to see this is going to date.

How long it is since I've seen you.

You cut your hair.

>> I did see I noticed.

>> Your hair.

>> Is since the last time I saw you.

It's lovely to see you.

Thank you.

For everybody watching.

>> On YouTube.

Now you can know that Evan.

>> Notices if you cut your hair here.

>> next to Annette is Jason Barber, co-founder of presente.

Welcome back.

>> Nice to see you here.

>> I'm honored to be back.

>> And across from Annette is Cielo Ornelas MacFarlane, who is a visual artist, but introduce herself to me this hour as.

just a.

>> Cinephile.

You love the movies?

I do.

>> Guilty.

Guilty to you.

Welcome.

Thank you for being here.

Thanks.

And next is yellow is a Jared Case curator of film exhibitions at the Dryden Theatre.

Welcome.

Thanks for being here as well.

>> Thank you.

I'm used to Scott being in that position, but this.

>> We.

Listen, Scott is the movie guy.

but I'm going to do my best this hour, and we're going to cover a lot of ground.

I'm going to start with yellow.

I just want to ask you, is there a single number one favorite film that you've seen more than any other film?

>> Oh., my.

My friends already know the answer to this.

It's Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim.

>> How many.

>> Times.

>> Have you seen it?

>> Oh, at least ten.

It's a yearly watch for me.

Minimum.

>> Do you feel like you could quote it?

>> It's definitely one of those things where it's like, I don't want to acknowledge it, but then when it starts playing, I'm like mouthing the dialog aloud.

>> Yeah.

See.

>> I, I feel like this is just like my own little cultural observation.

I feel like when I was growing up, I had and my friends and I had there was like a group of half a dozen films that you feel like you could still quote today.

They're like part of the zeitgeist, right?

And my son's 13, and for his birthday, he had some buddies coming over and I was like, well, you guys, we can do like a movie night.

And one of his friends said to me, A movie night movies take forever to watch.

Who watches a whole movie?

And I was like, whoa, whoa, is this like, what social media has done to kids?

Attention span, like, movies are too long, so I'm a little nervous about this, but I'm gonna assume that movies aren't going anywhere, and that that 13 year old who said that is going to mature into a great cinephile could happen.

>> There's still time.

>> Yeah, it could happen.

So we're going to talk favorite films.

We're going to talk the history of cinema here.

But Jason's going to bring us back to how present day came together and what the mission is here.

>> So it came together about three years ago.

I actually had an experience at the George Eastman House, where I took my cousin, who is an asylum seeker from Cuba and a former film professor.

and I, you know, we were sitting there and we're walking to the back part of the museum.

And I'm telling him, like all the films that are in storage at the Eastman House and that and the collections that are part of the Eastman House and Eastman Museum, and he was just in awe.

He kept on saying, it's like, I feel like I'm on holy, like holy ground, you know, like as a film geek.

And I'm like, you are like, this is the history of cinema is below your feet.

And so that kind of spurred me on.

And I look back at the films that I loved growing up and the Latino representation I saw in cinema and I, I, you know, I reached out to Annette and I said, hey, Annette, like, we need to do something.

We need to tell this story, and we need to tell this narrative that has been kind of lost, you know, and especially during this time where there's all this stuff happening within, you know, Latin voices and the Latin community.

We I wanted to say that like, look, we've been part of this forever.

You know, I studied a little bit in college about, you know, the Latinos contribution contributions.

you know, Dolores del Rio, Ramon Novarro, Desi Arnaz and Edward James Olmos.

And I'm sitting there like, well, we need to tell that there's it's huge.

It's been part of cinema since day one.

And we, you know, got a part of the committee.

We got Hector part of the committee, and we got a group of people together.

And we did a series of we did two films last year at the at the Little Theater.

Selena and Spy Kids, which, you know, we had a great time.

It was such a great experience.

But this year, you know, I reached out to Jared and, you know, we said, we want to expand this more.

And, you know, I knew that they had so many films in the collection that can tell the narrative.

And, you know, he was as passionate and he knew so much more films than even I, I didn't even know, I know, I know for, for me, one of the big films I was talking about, the three that I was, you know, I brought up, the two that I mainly brought up were American, me and Gilda, because I thought, you know, these are great stories that deal with the Latin story and also whitewashing of Latino culture and identity.

And then also, I forgot about the others.

You brought that up.

And then account Dolores del Rio I mentioned, and you said, oh, we have, you know, there's one we can grab.

Yeah.

You know, so and, you know, so it was, it was such a like a learning curve and it was just like we geek out about like, well, we can talk about this movie.

Well, what about this?

You know, there's this connection like, you know, I keep annoying him about maybe we should do a Desi Arnaz series where, because he greenlit Star Trek and Mission Impossible and we can say, hey, we could do Star Trek Wrath of Khan and have Ricardo Montalban and say, look, there's two Latinos.

>> Yes, yes.

>> In one movie, like involved in one movie.

>> So there's a little bit of the history and it's Wednesdays for the next month.

Yes.

So last night was last night was American me and it's free.

Yeah, yeah, last night was American.

Me.

Next Wednesday in Caliente.

That's from 1935.

Yeah.

1935. that's the 24th.

The October 1st.

Wednesday is a 1967 film.

And is it Tara m trans.

>> Trance.

>> Trance.

okay.

that's October 1st, October 8th.

Wednesday.

Gilda from 1946, which we're going to talk a little bit more about coming up, if you don't know Gilda and then the others rounding it out.

Wednesday, October 15th.

you had forgotten about the others.

You said you brought this up.

>> Yeah, yeah.

>> Yeah, he brought it up.

I forgot there was there was there was a huge impact on Chilean director.

And like, he also did all the soundtrack as well.

He composed the soundtrack I did.

I completely forgot that he was Chilean.

>> And we have a print in the collection that made it very easy.

>> So is that a is that in the horror genre?

>> Yeah, it's a Nicole Kidman.

she's in a spooky house, so it's very gothic, but it's also British.

Yeah, it is British based because he's coming back from World War II.

Her her husband didn't make it back from World War II, but suddenly he shows up and they're spooked by what's going on around them in the house.

>> okay, so what is it about horror?

When I when I saw NPR's Code Switch, did this piece on, on the Latino love of horror and said that, first of all, Latinos love the movies.

>> 22% of Latinos like horror.

You like horror?

>> I think horror is very stabby and very rude and very antisocial.

So but but it's half of the box office is from the Latino community.

Why are you a horror fan?

>> Oh, I'm definitely a horror fan.

Yeah.

honestly, I feel like because I'm Mexican-American, I have my own perspective.

That's more specific, but I really feel like.

And I'm going to go on a rant now.

It's it all goes back to the colonization of Mexico.

And, you know, the enforcement of the Catholic Church and part of like, why that was so successful in Mexico, right, is because like, one of the things they did is literally every day that was for an Aztec god, like a feast day or something.

They just replaced it with a Catholic saint, and it worked seamlessly.

Great job Catholics, you did it.

But like so much, I don't know if you guys have been in a Catholic church recently or a cathedral.

So much of the imagery of of Catholicism specifically, and I feel specifically Mexican Catholicism is so scary.

very often you will walk in and there is a life size recreation of Jesus dead, like right there waiting for you in the church.

Flaming heart.

Yeah.

He's bleeding.

His heart is out.

His hands are bleeding.

Like the imagery is there from childhood, from.

Yeah.

Since before you can remember.

In most cases.

And like, that is just something that gets in your brain.

And like, I'm a huge Guillermo del Toro fan and he has spoken about this like at length that this kind of like pathos that is inherent in so much religious and cultural stuff.

It just seeps into your brain.

And that's just like one of the lenses that's very easy to pull up for, like how to view the world.

>> Now I know why you really wanted her on the committee.

>> Yeah, yeah.

Also, it's also the kind of highlight the point, like with Puerto Rican, Cuban and Dominican culture and even a Brazilian culture.

We have like there is the Santeria and voodoo, you know, so the witch, the Santeria ism is real for us.

We've all grown up with stories of Santeria and the reality of these, these people that often are dressed in white, you know, so we see these like people who have this dark magic that are, you know, gowned in white dresses, the Victorian style dresses.

And I think, like, again, more horror is already connected into our stories.

>> And that's a great leeway into the perception of darkness and light and that whole personification, the whole mysticism and spirituality of our indigenous culture is all about believing that the earth, the plants, everything around us has a spirit and a soul and an energy.

And when you mistreat those things, they can come to life and haunt you.

And that was often perceived in our household, too.

I mean, you did novelas, you did all these spiritual things.

We had an altar in my mother's bedroom.

We lit candles every night, and that was to warn off any evil spirits, but also to attract the the spiritual positive spirits of protection and love and and all of those energies.

So.

>> Wow.

I mean, are you a horror fan, by the way?

>> I am totally a horror fan.

>> I would not have thought this about you.

>> I love.

>> Horror movies.

>>, even like stabby ones.

>> Oh.

>> I much more now into the more sophisticated.

>> The psychological.

>> Thrillers, psychological thrillers.

but as a kid, I grew up on Chiller Theater.

I mean, you know, that was just my Saturday night, and it was like all of my sisters and I would sit and watch, you know, Chiller Theater.

And it was just so exciting for us.

And then, of course, we'd go and say our prayers just to make sure that.

>> The altar.

>> So and I grew up in a house where our spirituality was very much more emphasized than our Catholicism.

Even though I went to Catholic schools my whole life.

So the idea, and I love that you bring that up, that Catholicism just basically transposed all of their saints from the Yoruba tradition and Santeria, which had positive and negative energies that if you didn't feed the rivers and you didn't bless the rivers with offerings, the river would flood your, you know, your farm.

And those were the elements that you grew up with.

And again, also, slavery took away so much of that.

And especially in Puerto Rico that whole Americanization that happened there, all of our spiritual life was really, really suppressed and taught as evil or bad or negative.

So, I was very fortunate that I grew up with a grandmother who was a Sun Thera, and she, you know, she did the blessing.

She did the offerings and taught us grandchildren how important it is to carry our tradition and our culture forward.

>> Wow.

We're going to get off horror in just a second.

>> But but.

>> I'm loving this.

So favorite horror film?

Do you have one?

>> I'm.

>> Going to say that I have had many throughout the years, and as I've gotten older, I'm going to say that the others is probably the most fascinating one that I have experienced in the last five, seven years, because I didn't know what was really happening until the very end.

And so that kept a constant on.

>> What was happening.

No, can't tell you Jared Case don't do that.

>> You'll have to come and see the movie with us.

>> Wednesday, October 5th.

I was going to do it.

>> Do it, do it.

>> Wednesday.

>> October 14th.

It's free.

>> It's part of present day the Latin Film series at the Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman Museum.

Are you a horror fan?

>> Yeah.

I mean, I mixed I like, I like I kind of like, like a broad spectrum.

But the movie I keep going back to and it's another Guillermo movie.

I love, love Devil's Backbone.

It's one of his like it.

It's really like deals with like Spanish history and, you know, the Spanish Civil War in Spain.

But it's, you know, like it's just that movie still freaks me out and I love it.

And it's, it's so good.

>> So probably one of the reasons I have not loved horror films is because I have a sleep disorder, in which I'm a lot like the comedian Mike Birbiglia.

I sometimes I will my brain and my body do not disconnect when I'm sleeping.

And I have literally dove down an entire stairway and landed at the bottom in the middle of the night.

I have sat up in bed screaming, not the knife, not the knife, you know?

So, you know, the stabby movies apparently embedded in my brain, so I don't.

Maybe that's why.

Maybe.

Maybe I just need clo.

Maybe I feel like the world is dark enough that I need cinema to be lighter.

Or at least not so dark.

but at the same time, I understand some people feel like it's escapist, that people feel like, you know, it's fascinating in its own way.

That way.

Does it feel escapist to you?

>> I think definitely.

That's part of like whenever people try to defend, like, true crime, right?

I feel like a good half of true crime and a good half of horror is really just the fantasy of, like, evil being both knowable and defeatable.

And that's like very cathartic to imagine that we can, you know, ultimately good can win.

>> Yeah, hopefully.

Jared, are you a horror fan?

>> I had to be convinced to.

And I'm still not very interested in sort of the the schlocky, low budget kind of stuff.

But yeah, I'll appreciate horror movie here and there.

>> My mother let me watch John Carpenter's Halloween way too young.

>> Oh, that.

>> Was, that was not that was a that was a hard one.

But but there's a separate issue sort of embedded in this.

And I want to ask our guests a little bit about this.

Jason, what does it mean to you if you hear concerns about whitewashing of the horror genre in Latin film or even just in film in general?

>> I mean.

>> What does.

>> That mean?

It's something that's so prevalent that as soon as you start delving into it, you start seeing it, you know, you start seeing it in everywhere, even in the way we look at Latin, like steroids, like stereotype, like movies, like, I was just thinking about the person keeps on in my mind is like, Raquel Welch, here's a woman who is 100% Latina, you know, but yet never portrayed it until the very end of her life.

You know, in movies or TV shows.

Thank you.

Because of Edward James Olmos, actually, he's the one who made her portray Latino characters.

But like that, you see it.

You see it not as much in horror.

I would say the whitewashing, but definitely in a lot of other movies, especially throughout the 30s, and 40s and the 50s and even into like the 80s.

And I would even go back into the 2000.

You have J.Lo taking on more white presenting roles.

You know, when she started off as a Latina character and then all of a sudden she's like, and then, of course, they make Maid in Manhattan, which is a very stereotypical Latin.

But then she's playing all these screwball kind of, you know, love story movies, and it's like, wait, she's just washing her identity, you know?

And a lot of other actors have done that.

And is.

>> It her choice, or is that the industry asking her?

>> Sometimes it's the industry, you know, like, it's funny when when I was doing research for the movie last that we did yesterday, American me, one of the things that came I was very shocked about was, you know, studio originally wanted to do you know, a Mexican cartel story, but they wanted Al Pacino to play the role, and they didn't want Edward James Olmos to direct it because they wanted a white, more experienced director.

So it was already there.

They were trying to whitewash it.

>> Then Al Pacino.

Yeah.

>> Not Al Pacino.

>> Al Pacino.

>> Not Al Pacino.

>> Yeah, okay.

>> And, you know, he's very known for his Latin roles.

Yeah.

>> okay, so let me ask the other guest that same question then.

So for you, whitewashing in film, how do you define it?

How do you see it?

>> Well, it is the appropriation of a culture or the denial of a culture.

And it swings both ways and and Maid in Manhattan is a classic example of the stereotype Latina.

And by the way, my mother cleaned Broadway theater houses for 27 years, and she never did the things that that movie did.

>> And she.

>> Says, you're not a fan.

>> No, I'm a fan of Latina actresses owning their identity in Hollywood, in films, television and in theater.

And I think that it it takes them a long time to garner that power to choose, and then to have the power to say, no, I'm not going to play that that way.

and example is our film Gilda.

Gilda is a great example.

First of all her original name is Margarita.

Carmen Casino.

So they changed her name.

They also dyed her beautiful brown hair to an auburn red, and they spent two years doing electrolysis to change her hairline.

And those were, of course, in the days when the studios.

>> Owned.

>> Oh, to alter her hairline because it was too Latina.

And and Spanish looking.

So those were the days, of course, when Hollywood owned an actress.

contract and they were basically bartered and traded like show horses.

Right?

So of course, the industry has changed today.

Actresses own their own production companies.

and actors.

And there they are now producing their own films.

They're also producing the quality of work that they want and telling the stories that they're interested in telling.

And American Me is a classic example of that.

Edward had to fight every single challenge and assumption and stereotype.

It's one of the most brilliant pieces of acting.

That's so authentically real.

I loved watching it on the big screen, and I encourage you all to see it on the big screen.

But again today, and I'll give you another example.

When I lived in Los Angeles they were shopping around the Frida Kahlo film, and there was a bidding war at Paramount Pictures because Madonna wanted the rights to the film.

And over 300 Latinas painted our unibrows in and protested in front of Paramount Studios, because there was no way we were going to allow a Latina to own that story, to portray that character and to tell it with the integrity and cultural integrity of who Frida Kahlo was.

And if you know who she was, she were her mexicana ness.

Looks like a fabulous, ordained piece of art.

So again, those are the challenges that we've had over the last 20 years in Hollywood.

But I will say there is progress that actors and and directors and filmmakers are now owning their stories and telling them in the way that is authentic.

And the voices that they want to be heard in.

>> Let me.

>> Just follow up with one other point regarding whitewashing, as it concerns you in that on the one hand, I want to express two ideas here, and I want to get your thoughts on.

The one is and I'll probably get some emails to this effect, people will say, isn't the idea of art, of fiction, of imagining, of being able to embody different characters, of being able it could be someone who is not from a certain culture playing a different culture.

It could be someone who is gay, playing a straight person, or vice versa.

All kinds of things.

And people will say it's cinema, it's fiction.

Why would you not allow some, especially if they're talented enough to do it?

The second idea is that is an idealistic thought that represents a really idealistic world.

And the the reality is it is typically people from dominant cultures who get to move into different cultures.

>> And.

>> You hit it right on the nail, Evan.

>> So is that is that how you feel?

>> Is there are so many Latinx filmmakers, actors, producers?

in in our entire planet and yet the the ability to capture those films and those those projects is so narrow and microscopic because you have a a system that says, well, we need a big name.

And wait, who makes the big name?

Oh, Hollywood.

Oh, all the studios make a big name.

Why can't a J-Lo be a big name?

Why can't, you know Rita?

Monero be a big name?

Because they had to fight for every opportunity to be authentically who they are.

And they could play just about any part.

They're darn good actresses, so why not allow them to go beyond not only telling their own stories, but fulfilling major, major movie roles where they are the lead and not the supporting actor?

>> Do you want.

>> To add?

>> Oh, I was I was going to point out that, like when we talk about Rita moreno, do you realize that here's a woman who had 50, 50 years, over 50 years in the industry and her Oscar?

There's there's for the supporting actress.

There's only been two Latina actresses that win.

I know three Rosie Perez and two people playing the same character.

Like, yeah, both from West Side Stories.

That's it.

That's just for women.

And there's been very few Latino men.

I don't think Raul Julia ever received an Oscar, but that man deserved one.

You know, like, you know, it's very rare.

And there has.

I don't believe I don't know, Jared.

You may know if there's ever been a Latin director to win an Oscar.

>> yes.

gravity.

>> Oh, yeah.

Alfonso Cuaron and Guillermo del Toro.

So there has been two.

Yes.

Forgive me, I was wrong.

Yeah, because I do believe Guillermo del Toro.

One is.

Yeah.

He's one of few.

So.

Yes.

And those are all great.

The grandes.

>> You know.

>> Those three directors are worthy of everything.

>> So how do you see the issue of whitewashing?

>> I don't know.

I feel like Annette really covered a lot of it very well.

but the one thing I was thinking of is like specifically the idea of, like, taking Latin stories and then having white people do them because I had to look up because I was I couldn't even remember who it was.

But they made that The Curse of La Llorona.

And who was it starring?

It was starring Linda Cardinelli, who is an Italian woman.

And that's fine.

Good for you, Linda.

I support working actresses, but for me, instantly I remember seeing those trailers and being like, oh, okay, well, I'm not going to see that because it's just like, instantly any interest that I had.

And you making this horror movie is just gone for me because I'm like, well, okay, like, you could have you could have cast anyone and you chose this person.

And I feel like that's also like part of this kind of like, quote, unquote new casting decisions that happen in Hollywood where they do a call that's for open, open race.

Anybody can audition.

And I feel like that always has like mixed results because sometimes they're like, okay, well, this kid's the best person for the role, but then they don't really change the role in any way.

So the role is still white in a way.

There's nothing culturally specific about those characters.

and loathe as I am to hand it to Tim Burton, I do really love watching the new Wednesday show because, you know, whoever's working with him, whoever's in that writing room, they're like, and remember now, Jenna Ortega is Mexican, and we will be reminding the audience that this family is Mexican, and we will be doing that with audio cues and dialog and set design and full conversations about day of the dead.

In the most recent season.

And it's like that.

I will take the crumbs.

Thank you so much, Tim Burton.

>> For those who haven't seen Wednesday, where's Wednesday.

>> On that's on Netflix.

>> That's on Netflix series.

You like it?

>> I do, I do like it.

>> Yeah.

>> and then you want to add on the subject Jared.

>> yeah.

I guess just from being in this position as curator of film exhibition for seven years, I've seen so many examples of how representation on screen matters to audiences.

We have a film coming up for Christmas called Deaf Santa Claus which is a documentary about deaf person who wants to perform as Santa Claus but finds all these obstacles because of communication problems with the normal kids.

But for those kids that he touches and interacts with that he can talk to in a way that no other Santa Claus has been able to.

It's wonderful to see that that that brightness come on their face, that a way to communicate directly to them without that inter inter piece of of the imagination.

Right.

It's it's direct communication directly to that.

And as we're talking about Gilda and Dolores del Rio in in Caliente, that was a period of time in which the production code was in place.

So there were very specific things brought on by an external force that talked about people playing different races and whether or not a romantic couple was able to end up together because they would deny miscegenation, any sort of mixing of races.

So it does come from many places, and it's that's why this kind of series is important, so that we can talk about each and every one of these issues while relaying the fact that Hispanics and Latinx artists have been in the movies since the beginning.

>> Well, if you want to see the films that we're talking about here, we've been talking a little bit about Gilda here.

We talked about the others American me was last night.

You missed that one.

But you got a chance to see in Caliente.

Tara and Gilda, the others on Wednesdays.

The next four Wednesdays, it's present.

The Latin film series.

It's happening at the Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman Museum.

And our guests are talking all about it.

We got to take our only break.

I've got an interesting email about whether our guests, an emailer, said most of these films are from past generations.

Is anybody making good movies anymore?

I think there's probably some good movies.

So.

So we'll talk about that and a lot more with our guests on the other side of this, only break.

I'm Evan Dawson Friday on the next Connections in our first hour, three people on the same political slate in a small town, one Republican and two Democrats.

And they like each other very much.

They disagree a lot on politics, but they're not letting that get in the way.

And we're going to talk about how they're trying to bridge those divides in our second hour, a conversation with the new Kafka Prize winner.

Talk with you Friday.

>> Support for your public radio station comes from our members and from Mary Cariola center, supporting residents to become active members of the community from developing life skills to gaining independence.

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More online at.

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>> This is Connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

We should just roll the show right through the break.

Great conversation.

>> And I'm just going to.

>> Ask you.

So we had an emailer wanted to know is like making good movies.

Now this is a film series with five films from 1992, 1935, 1967, 1946, 2001 is the others.

And so the emailer says you know, past generations.

Well, yeah, I mean, it's a film series.

It's history.

Right?

>> Absolutely.

>> If you're not going to put what's in the theater a year ago, I don't think you're Jared.

>> No, we try not to.

Those have been seen by our audience.

We want to bring out things that people haven't seen.

As a matter of fact, in Caliente, which we're showing next Wednesday.

According to Letterboxd, 300 people have seen that mill.

So it's a recent restoration from the Library of Congress.

These are all 35 millimeter prints from major American archives.

So it's a chance to show the audience a Dolores del Rio film that hasn't been seen that much.

>> All right, now, let's answer the question.

Am I make any good movies?

Anybody any good movies lately?

>> Must a movie be good?

I, I was thinking of this movie earlier, and I, I am kidding, I did like it, but a few years ago, maybe two years ago at Anomaly Film Festival, which is every year at the little coming up soon.

they screened a movie called Satanic Hispanics.

And it is great.

It's a bunch of shorts with like an overarching framework, and I don't know where it's streaming, but I know it's streaming now.

So perfect time of year to watch Satanic Hispanics.

If you want.

>> To.

All right.

>> Jason, anything you want to.

>> Point out?

>> well, we had John Leguizamo's most recent movie Bobby Trevino.

That's very good.

He's starting his own production company.

Then you also had it came out.

Some of them came out during the pandemic, which makes me very annoyed.

Was In the Heights, which was beautifully represented, the Latino neighborhood.

There were some issues with, you know, how Dominican culture was presented, but I remember watching it and I'm sitting there with my two of my white friends, and they start seeing me cry.

The first five minutes of the movie, and they're like, why are you crying?

And I'm like, they're making coffee.

By the way.

My grandmother makes it.

They have present day beer, which is a Dominican beer.

Like it was like, this.

Is that small, tiny bit of representation mattered so much to me.

And then also, I would say another movie that got huge ratings on HBO but never got a theatrical release because the pandemic was the remake of the remake of father of the bride with Gloria Estefan and John Leguizamo.

Full Cuban cast, Latino cast.

actually, another great TV show that I think deserved more recognition was Andor, where the two lead actors are Latino, you know, like and it was one of the best.

And it really embraced the culture, embraced our kind of identity.

You know, Diego Luna was amazing in it.

So there's there's a lot going on.

There's a lot in cinema and television right now.

and I think it's the storytelling is really good.

but then we also have the fallbacks, like we have like Narcos, which I'm like, please end this.

>> I'm not a fan.

>> Of Narcos.

>> I, I just, I mean, it's a great avenue for Latino actors, but even those Latino actors have said, like, Diego Luna has publicly said, it is sad that this is the roles that this major.

>> Because it feels stereotypical.

>> It's very stereotypical, like, hey, can you all play drug lords?

You know, he said that and then he, you know, that's why he jumped on Andor, you know, because he's like, I want to play a revolutionary.

I want to play like somebody doing something.

>> I think Andor just got something like best writing.

>> Yeah, writing.

Writing deserved.

>> Costumes, I think as well.

>> Yeah.

>> Look at me actually staying up late enough.

>> To know something.

Go ahead.

>> I wanted.

>> To share that.

It's also important to know where, we came from.

And this opportunity with the George Eastman Museum is so critical to our local community.

Mayor Evans recently acknowledged that we are the second largest city of Latinos in New York State.

But we are per capita, 0.2% greater than New York City.

So wepa to my people.

okay, so that means that we have a huge concentration.

And Jason's vision really propelled me and inspired me to uplift his work at the George Eastman, because we have an internationally renowned resource of film, film archives where the world over seeks our, you know, George Eastman Museum.

And having Jared dig through and find our stories and find our films teaches younger generations.

We have history in this field and that we can make great movies moving forward as well.

So I want to give a shout out to the George Eastman because Jared, really, we were on fire.

Jason and I, he we worked so well together.

And when we came to the George Eastman, we really felt welcomed, received, and excited.

As much energy as we have passion for telling our stories, they met us with that same enthusiasm and that same willingness to share it.

And that's why it's also important to have free film offerings at the George Eastman for our Latinx community.

So I just want to continue to encourage art institutions in our city to welcome diverse communities, especially the second largest per capita Latino community.

>> That's that's.

>> Really that's really interesting.

>> It's very important.

So I wanted to share that as well.

>> That's a great endorsement of what you're doing over there.

Appreciate it.

Honorary member.

Your last name is now Casey.

>> Casey.

>> That's been brought up.

>> He speaks very good Spanish.

>> Is that right?

>> Annette, by the way, mentioned, this is just an aside, but I find this really interesting.

The preservation of these films and digging through the archives.

And, you know, this is something that we may discuss on a different day entirely because it gets to preservation of history and getting really kind of nerdy about you know, what that actually entails.

But can you just tell me a little bit about the responsibility and what it's like having actual physical films and how you're preserving them?

And what that is like?

>> Yeah, yeah, you're opening up the vault.

Nayib Bukele never stop, but I just want to go back to the the new movies.

something that we've been bringing up a lot in this hour is Guillermo del Toro, and he's got a new movie coming up with Frankenstein, bringing it back around to whitewashing, starring Oscar Isaac, a Guatemalan actor.

Yeah.

>> Cuban.

Guatemalan.

>> Yes.

So it's still going on today.

But, yes.

Nerdiness.

yes.

Having the history under our feet, having 28,000 titles that in the vaults that you have access to, not not always in a way that you are able to show them to people.

Sometimes they are not in great condition.

Sometimes it's a negative instead of a positive.

But, you having that responsibility, it's you know, people ask me, oh, it must be great to come to this wonderful museum every day.

And it's like, yes, but it's also I'm coming to work.

So, you know, you sort of have to block out all of this responsibility, all of this beauty that's going on around you and just focus on the job.

And we have 20 people in our department starting with people that collect the films and conserve them, make sure they're in great shape.

And that leads to the preservation, which is photochemical preservation film to film.

Before we go to digital and the ending part of that preservation process then is the exhibition, which is where I come in, because if we're saving all these films, it's no use unless somebody's seeing them.

So it's an entirely long process that takes a lot of people, a lot of money, a lot of grants that are applied for.

And we try to bring, you know, as much as a broad, a canvas as we can in the 250 shows a year that I have to show that history of cinema from around the country, 130 years of cinema, and there's 100 countries that are doing it.

So it's it's a tall tale, but we try to do it.

>> And what's the Oscar Isaac role in Frankenstein?

>> Victor Frankenstein?

>> He plays.

He plays Victor Frankenstein.

Yeah.

In a movie or a streaming series.

Movie?

I don't even this is again.

>> It'll be at the little soon.

>> Yeah.

Listen.

>> I have a I had a new son arrived this summer.

I'm way behind on a lot of what's going on here.

anything that you like in recent movies or.

Annette?

>> I have been.

>> More into the comedies lately because I wanted to be more positively uplifted.

I love Wednesdays, I mean, it has just seen a Latina play a Latina, a Latinx family that has just been joy, joy, and the darkness of it is comedically so vibrant and maybe, perhaps a reflection of my own family.

but it just brings me great joy to see.

our community really out there and telling stories that are universal, you know, but still culturally relevant and poignant and, and still identified and seeped deep in our culture.

>> So let's look at some of the other films we haven't talked about.

We talked a little bit about in Caliente.

Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

And then we'll kind of has everybody seen in Caliente here?

>> No, no, no no.

>> This is why we have the Dryden.

>> Yeah.

Yeah for sure.

All of you would have said, okay.

>> There's like at least two.

Yeah.

Two of these movies I haven't seen.

>> Oh, this is.

>> Very fun.

Yeah.

okay.

So what's in Caliente?

>> In Caliente stars Pat O'Brien and Dolores del Rio.

Pat O'Brien is a publisher who reviews basically arts performances.

And he gives Dolores del Rio a bad review under a fake name that she has as she's on tour, he takes a vacation in Mexico.

She knows who he is, but he doesn't know who she is.

So it's sort of one of those, romances where the at each other's throats at first, but then they they end up together by the end.

>> okay.

and again, none of you have seen this.

>> No, but, I mean, I know of Dolores del Rio.

She's she's one of those stars that went from silent era all the way up to the 50s.

I mean, she played Elvis's mom in a flaming star.

Yeah, like.

>> Whoa.

>> So, like, that means I think technically, that means Elvis was playing Mexican.

There was.

>> A little.

whitewash there in that movie.

Yeah.

>> So, yeah, but they at least had a Mexican.

>> Mom.

>> And she was a very well known star within Mexican cinema.

>> but when did the silent era end?

>> 1929, 1930?

okay.

27.

>> okay.

So she's one of those crossover stars.

>> Oh, absolutely.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah.

Interesting.

so that's in Caliente is next Wednesday, September 24th.

Again, the showtimes are 730.

>> Correct.

>> Free entry for the Latin film series called present.

It's happening at the Drive-In theater at the George Eastman Museum.

And then two showings from now.

So two Wednesdays from now, 13 days from now.

Tara m.

>> What's that?

>> Yes, that was another one of my picks that we had a print in the vault, and we.

I wanted to focus on not just American films that featured Hispanic or Latinx artists, but the fact that cinema was being made around the world.

Terem Transa is part of the Cinema Novo.

It's the Brazilian New wave, and it's directed by Glauber Rocha, who is sort of the progenitor of that movement.

So if you think about the French New Wave and the different ways they were using the camera and the different film techniques that they were using to be impressionistic instead of necessarily straightforward about what they were doing.

But these artists were also very politically active.

So time is very politically motivated and critical of the current mood in Brazil at the time.

so it's essentially about this guy who starts supporting one candidate until he becomes disaffected by that candidate and switches to the other candidate only to find out that there's not really that big of a difference between the two.

But a black and white, just a gorgeous print.

actually, I'll say that at this at a time.

This is actually Martin Scorsese's personal print.

>> Yeah.

>> Of this film that we're gonna be showing.

>> and it's for free on October 1st.

So in the middle of the series.

>> How do you why do.

>> You why do you.

have that?

>> Did you steal it?

Does he know you have it?

>> Well, he does now.

>> the.

>> The Martin Scorsese, most of his large film collection is at the George Eastman Museum.

There is some stuff at the Museum of Modern Art.

but we've had it for 25, maybe closer to 30 years now.

and he's very generous in allowing us to use prints from his collection when they fit within our programing.

>> Oh, what a cool story.

So that's two Wednesdays from now.

and I guess the whole room has not seen that either.

Is that right?

okay, so, first timers.

>> I have it on my YouTube queue, but it's a poor quality.

So I'm waiting to see it at like actually projected for good quality.

>> The Scorsese print.

>> Yeah.

>> That's what most people say.

Like I'm waiting for the Scorsese's.

>> Let me get Marty's copy.

>> Yeah, we got Marty's copy.

>> Annette, are you excited about that one?

>> I am.

>> First of all even seeing American me last night was phenomenal.

I had only ever seen it on the small screen TV.

and it was such a beautiful, visually compelling, film.

And just seeing it bigger than life.

Really, really brought that story home to me.

I was sharing prior that I lived in L.A.

during those days.

So I was on the outskirts of East L.A.

and I only drove through, but seeing that film in big beautiful screen at the Dryden was just so rewarding.

So do come out to see these films, even if you've seen them a hundred times on TV or not.

Yeah.

And come and enjoy the beauty of cinema that we have here in Monroe County.

>> Is there anything on this list that you're the most excited about?

>> I need to just wax poetic.

I can't make eye contact with Jared, though.

It's too embarrassing.

I haven't seen any of the films.

Obviously.

I've now seen American me, but that is what I love so much about the Dryden and and about their great curation.

Please take this as a compliment, Jared.

The only reason I have not gone to get a master's in film studies is because of the Dryden and the little.

There is such a wealth of of films to see, and I really feel that Rochester is the best city to live in after L.A.

If you love movies, because we just have so much incredible history and like, just everything is right here.

It's so awesome and I really feel like, you know, they show a different movie every day.

You guys, it's crazy.

And like, the little I feel like has really stepped up in the last couple of years, they do way more repertory screenings and like they've done like the little Lynch series in concert with the Dryden.

And it's just awesome.

And so every time I go to the Dryden, almost without exception, I'm like, I can't wait to see a movie I've never seen before.

>> I'm kind of amazed when people are like, is this little compete with Dryden?

I'm like, we love them.

you know, I mean, just to me it is just shared effort at bringing great cultural offerings to a city that actually cares about it.

I don't know how you feel about that.

>> Yeah, I jokingly I will refer to us as frenemies.

>> we.

>> There are titles that we compete for, but it ultimately, if the little can get it 12 shows and I'm only able to give it one please little take it because then our audience, more of our audience is going to be able to see that and allows me to dig a little bit deeper to find those even more hidden gems that we can bring out.

>> do you think there are any movies that you haven't seen?

>> Yeah.

Really?

>> Oh, yeah.

okay.

And even movies that I want to see that I haven't seen.

>> I don't.

>> Mean like in the last five years.

I mean, like, historically.

>> Oh, God.

Yeah.

I've never seen Grand Hotel.

>> Really?

Yeah.

Wow.

>> That's a great.

>> That's an interesting.

Yeah.

What's another admission that people would be surprised that you haven't seen.

>> Oh.

>> Well, that's the usually the go to.

yeah.

There's probably a bunch of other Best Picture winners that I haven't seen either.

Can't think of one.

>> Right now.

>> It's fascinating because, like, what an amazing resource that Jared brings to be able to help you curate for a festival like this.

So as we get ready to wrap here, I'm going to do this here.

If you have if you didn't go to present it last year was two films, right?

Yeah.

And we were in here talking about Selena last year.

>> Right.

>> And Spy Kids.

okay.

So five films this year.

What do you want to do with this in the future?

>> I you know, I've talked to Annette about this and Jared I, I, I want to grow this into like a constant exploration of the Latino impact in cinema and that, you know, it's not just like we have a Brazilian film.

People are like, well, is it a Spanish?

Like, no, it's, you know, Latin America, you know, we've been here since the very beginning.

So there's I want to bring, you know, and then I've said bringing in people from the Dominican community, bringing people in from the Puerto Rican.

And, you know, say, okay, let's let's tell these stories.

Let's see if we can get certain films that haven't been seen, you know, around here.

Let's talk about that.

You know, there's this representation, you know, El Mariachi, Robert Rodriguez movie.

But then also I am Cuba or Dominican Story or like talking about the grannies, you know, Alfonso Cuaron and and and you know, Guillermo del Toro and like their impact that they've been having on cinema over the last 20 years has been insane, you know, and these are guys.

So it's telling that ever present story of the Latino experience, you know, in America and throughout the Americas.

>> So you.

>> Got plenty more you.

>> Can do.

There's a lot there's a lot.

>> Of storytelling that we can do.

And I just I just hope, you know, and I, you know, I want us to grow it and grow it.

And, you know, bring in college students, bringing other people and say, hey, this is this great storytelling avenue.

And like we've talked about, we are such a unique place in America right now as Rochester for film.

It really is like a gift to be in this city where we can see these films, where we have these collections, where Martin Scorsese already did the work for us, and Francis Ford Coppola did the work and left it, or spike Lee left the collection to the Eastman House and say, hey, oh, I got this Spanish film I love, or this, you know, or this film, you know, so it's it's and we have, you know, people like Jared that can kind of bring those films here and the little that can do so much for us.

And I really just want to see that grow.

>> I would say as a warning to the audience, don't take it for granted.

>> Yes, please.

>> This is not like any other place.

So make sure you're taking advantage of what we have here.

>> The George Eastman House should be sold out every day like it should, you know.

So is the little like.

I honestly think if we're like L.A., you go to the New Beverly, you go to the, you know, the you know, the Arclight.

They're packed.

I don't understand why we're not like the Eastman House is not packed every single day.

>> There's tens of people at every screening.

>> Yeah, there's tens.

>> There should be tens.

There should be.

>> Full.

>> Every film because you're getting your film education in one place and it's not.

>> I will say to to the point about don't take it for granted.

It is easy to just assume that your experience is everyone else's experience, or every other cities experience, or every other region.

And until you live somewhere else and you maybe you don't have something like that it's easy to take it for granted.

So I just want to echo that point.

It's a really, really smart one.

okay, present the Latin film series.

It is happening for the next four Wednesdays.

It started last night with American me, and then the next four Wednesdays in Caliente.

Tara and Gilda and the others.

It is free.

730 start for the showtimes at the Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman Museum, and they I say they everyone here.

They would all love to see you there.

>> Yes.

>> Tens and hundreds and thousands.

>> Of you.

>> make it a fire hazard.

Jared's a curator of film exhibitions at the Dryden Theatre.

Thank you for.

>> Being here.

>> Thanks for having us.

>> And Cielo Ornelas MacFarlane a visual artist.

And really, I mean, like, in the conversations I've had with you, you are a brilliant cinephile.

You are your own encyclopedia.

Thank you for being here.

A lot of fun.

always great to talk to you.

Annette Ramos from the Rochester Latino Theater Company.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And Jason Barber, co-founder of Presente Latin Film Series, among other hats.

Nice to see.

>> You back here.

>> Have fun with this series and listeners.

Thanks for watching on YouTube.

Thanks for listening.

Thanks for being a member of your public media.

We are back with you tomorrow.

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