Calendar of Events
¡ALAMBRISTA! -- Thurs Nov 7, 4:30-8pm
¡ALAMBRISTA! Dir. Robert M. Young. USA, 1977. 96 min. Young Library AV-D0708.
Niles Gallery, Little Fine Arts & Design Library
Intro/Q&A: Sofía Mena Molina (ABD, Hispanic Studies)
SYNOPSIS:
A farmworker sneaks across the border from Mexico into California in an effort to make money to send to his family back home. It is a story that happens every day, told here in an uncompromising, groundbreaking work of realism from American independent filmmaker Robert M. Young. Vivid and spare where other films about illegal immigration might sentimentalize, Young's take on the subject is equal parts intimate character study and gripping road movie, a political work.
OPTIONAL ADVANCE READINGS:
- Groody, Daniel. “The Drama of Immigration and the Cry of the Poor: The Voices of Alambrista Yesterday and Today.” Alambrista and the U.S.-Mexico Border: Film, Music, and Stories of Undocumented Immigrants. Ed. Nicholas J. Cull and David Carrasco. 59-78. https://www3.nd.edu/~dgroody/files/Alambrista.pdf.
- The Horse’s Head (blog). “#686 [National Film Registry]: ¡Alambrista! (1977).” https://thehorseshead.blog/2024/03/13/686-alambrista-1977/.
- Library of Congress. “Mexican Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History.” https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/mexican/becoming-part-of-the-united-states/. (8 sections; use the arrows to click through all 8)
- Premawardhan, Devaka. “Between Logocentrism and Lococentrism: Alambrista Challenges to Traditional Theology.” Harvard Theological Review 101.3 (2008): 399-416.
- Ramírez-Berg, Charles. “¡Alambrista!: Inside the Undocumented Experience.” Criterion Collection essay (2012). https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2256--alambrista-inside-the-undocumented-experience.
RETORNO A HANSALA -- Thurs Nov 21, 4:30-8pm
RETORNO A HANSALA. Dir. Chus Gutiérrez. Spain, 2008. Dierdra Reber personal copy.
Niles Gallery, Little Fine Arts & Design Library
Intro/Q&A: Jesús Ponte Bernal (ABD, Hispanic Studies)
SYNOPSIS:
In 2003, the bodies of 37 Moroccans, a dozen of them from the countryside village of Hansala, washed up on the beaches of Rota in Southern Spain after a failed attempt at crossing the Strait of Gibraltar. The film portrays that event through the eyes of Martín, a funeral parlor owner who capitalizes on their deaths, and Leila, the sister of one of the dead boys; together, they try to repatriate his body. Director Chus Gutiérrez artfully contrasts the lives of rich and poor separated by only a few hundred miles.
OPTIONAL ADVANCE READINGS:
- Battistel, Claudia. “El ‘Otro’ en nosotros: inversión de roles en Retorno a Hansala de Chus Gutiérrez.” Hispanic Journal 40.1 (Spring 2019): 33-50.
- Estefania, Rafael. “From Shipwreck to Solidarity.” BBC. 10 Sept. 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7586597.stm.
- Guillén Marín, Clara. “Morocco, Spain, and the Ethical Turn in Retorno a Hansala (Chus Gutiérrez, 2008).” Migrants in Contemporary Spanish Film (Routledge, 2018). 80-94.
- Rabanal, Hayley. “Rethinking Integration in Contemporary Spanish Film: Convivencia and the Cosmopolitan Outlook in Chus Gutiérrez’s Retorno a Hansala (2008).” Journal of Iberian and Latin-American Studies20.2 (2014-2015): 135-59.
EL NORTE -- Thurs Dec 5, 4:30-8pm
EL NORTE. Dir. Gregory Nava. USA, 1983. 140 min. Young Library AV-D4525.
Niles Gallery, Little Fine Arts & Design Library
Intro/Q&A: Lilia RodrÍguez (Hispanic Studies)
SYNOPSIS:
Mayan Indian peasants are tired of being thought of as nothing more than manual laborers. They organize an effort to improve their lot in life, but are discovered by the Guatemalan army. After the army destroys their village and family, Enrique and Rosa, a teenage brother and sister, who barely escaped the massacre, decide they must flee to United States. After receiving clandestine help from friends and humorous advice from a veteran immigrant on strategies for traveling, they make their way by truck, bus, and other means to Los Angeles, where they try to make a new life as young, uneducated, and undocumented immigrants.
OPTIONAL ADVANCE READINGS:
- Ebert, Roger. “Epic Journey to a Promised Land.” Review of El Norte, 2004. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-el-norte-1983.
- Fagerholm, Matt. Interview of Gregory Nava. “We Are a Nation of Immigrants: Gregory Nava on His Masterpiece, El Norte.” RogerEbert.com. 10 Sept 2019. https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/we-are-a-nation-of-immigrants-gregory-nava-on-his-masterpiece-el-norte-returning-to-theaters-this-sunday-september-15th.
- Lickona, Matthew. “El Norte: Before and After.” San Diego Reader. 11 Sept 2019. https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2019/sep/11/golden-el-norte-and-after/.
- Taiano, Leonor. “Un trágico itinerario guatemalteco: determinismo y tragedia de El Norte de Gregory Nava.” PACHA. Revista de Estudios Contemporáneos del Sur Global. 2.5 (2021): 1-14.
- Tobar, Héctor. “Promised Land: El Norte.” Criterion Collection essay, 2009. https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1005-promised-land-el-norte.
