Tonight we’re happy to have Jason Barber back to talk about the upcoming ¡Presente! Latin Cinematic Heritage Series starting Wednesday, September 16 at the George Eastman Museum. For the second year in a row, the Dryden Theatre is partnering with the ¡Presente! Film Series to highlight the often-overlooked contributions Latin Americans have made to cinema worldwide. Both in front of and behind the camera, Latin-Americans have told us stories of family bliss, biblical epics, the macabre, tragedy, and their own integration into American culture, as reflected in this series. Viewing the films through the lens of the artists who brought them to life — Desi Arnaz, Ramon Novarro, Luis Valdez, Edward James Olmos, Raul Julia, Anthony Quinn, and more — take a brief journey through the last century of cinema in this series of five films, free to everyone.

Returning to the podcast is Jason Barber, a Cuban American educator and artist with over a decade of experience in Rochester’s arts and non-for-profit sectors. As an active public artist in Rochester, he has served in many roles for a variety of Rochester’s art institutions– Rochester Brainery, Oxford Gallery, Memorial Art Gallery, Wall\Therapy, and the Yards Art Collective. He currently sits on the development and outreach boards for AC3 arts council, Latinx Art Council, and Catholic Charities of Rochester. Currently, he is the site manager for the international Plaza, which is part of the Public Market. He is also a massive film lover with an encyclopedia’s worth of knowledge in cinema.

Come watch the films for free AND support the Latin-owned businesses and events at the International Plaza during Latin Heritage Month!

Mentioned in this episode:

Behind the Glass

Podcast and gallery focusing on underrepresented artists utilize the space to amplify their work. Curated by @Richardbcolon @qua.jay. Check out the podcast or join them in person first Fridays at 240 E Main St, Rochester, NY! https://behind-the-glass-gallery.captivate.fm

Our Voices Project - Land Acknowledgement

Hello POD and Happy Thursday.

If this is your first time listening and or watching welcome to Representation in Cinema.

We talk about the films that center Black Brown Indigenous peoples as well as on the film industry itself.

I'm Jacqueline McGrevie, your host and the founder, director and co producer of our Voices project.

We're a production company that shares the stories and lived experiences of Black Brown Indigenous Peoples through visual storytelling and truth telling.

We are community engaged filmmakers who firmly believe that you cannot center the stories of Black Brown Indigenous peoples without also being in community and in solidarity with them.

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And if you enjoy tonight's episode, please rate us five stars and leave a comment letting us know your thoughts tonight.

We're happy to have Jason Barber back to the podcast to talk about the upcoming Latin Cinematic Heritage Series at the George Easton museum starting on September 16th.

For anyone who's unfamiliar, Jason Barber is a Cuban American educator and artist with over a decade of experience in Rochester's arts and non for profit sectors.

As an active public artist in Rochester, he has served in many roles for a variety of Rochester's art institutions, Rochester Brainery, Oxford Gallery, Memorial Art Gallery, Wall Therapy and the Yards Art Collection Collective.

He currently sits on the development and outreach boards for AC3 Arts Council, Latinx Art Council and Catholic Charities of Rochester.

Currently, he's the site manager for the International Plaza, which is part of the public market.

I also want to make sure that people know that you are a massive film lover with an encyclopedia's worth of knowledge in cinema.

Yes, it's.

It's a problem.

You should ask.

My girlfriend can name the artist dates and places and it's hard.

Okay.

Welcome back to the podcast, Jason.

Okay, so, all right, so let's get into the discussion.

So you're opening up the.

We'll talk about each of these, the films that are coming to George Eastman Museum this month.

So if you can give us, of course, a quick summary of each of these films as well as the inspiration for you as well as Dryden Theater director Jared.

Jared.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Sorry Jared, I did not forget your name.

So yeah, give me the idea as to why, you know, you chose these specific films and then just to talk about anything else that you want to talk about, you know, with each of these films.

So we'll start with the long, long trailer.

So can you tell folks about that film.

Well, I think early on, when I started this film series, I wanted to focus on Desi Arnaz.

You know, it's.

It's a.

You know, it's a.

You know, it's one of those narratives that people forget that there was a Latino that created a TV show that literally changed the world, you know, changed the way television helped.

And he did it for his wife, you know, to showcase how talented his wife was.

You know, he's the one who brought us the three camera system.

Like, Focus on three.

The live studio audience, you know, reruns, syndication, all were stuff that he kind of was like, kind of the forefront of kind of figuring this out.

He also was the guy who greenlit the Dick Van Dyke Show, Star Trek, Mission Impossible and the untouchables.

I mean, two of the longest.

We just today celebrating the 60th anniversary of Star Trek, that would be here because of Desi Arnaz.

You know, so I always think, like, that's an aspect that we always have to talk about is this one Cuban man from Santiago de Cuba, which is, you know, my family's hometown, actually.

His father was the mayor of Santiago when my grandparents were born and when my great parents were living, you know, so they lost their home.

They had a lot of money because of Baptista's revolution, which was, you know, about 20 years before Castro's revolution.

So this, you know, this aspect of being Cuban, understanding that the Cuban narrative of how much we work and how much we do and how much we create is something that I always wanted to focus on.

And that's why we wanted, you know, something Jared and I always talk about is we can literally do almost every film series that have something connected to Desi.

It could be Mary Poppins.

It could be.

We could.

It's that bra.

One of the ideas we always spitball is Star Trek.

We're at the Khan.

We can have Star Trek and Ricardo Mantzebad in one movie.

You know, like the idea that Desi helped create Star Trek.

Also, cool fact, the first Federation flag that's in the TV series, it's just the Cuban flag with a star on it with little, like, planet on it in honor of Desier now.

So it's this aspect that we forget because they were filming their first, I think, first two years they were filming in Desilu Studios.

So they were even renting the location from a studio that Desi bought, which was a studio that he met his wife on our KO Studios.

So they actually bought the studio and created the largest television Studio that wasn't cbs, ABC, or NBC.

Yeah.

Like, like it was literally they created swab of television shows that we still talk about to this day.

And, and I think, like, we forget that.

That's why I kind of wanted to talk about that.

And what's so great about the Long Lawn trailer is I also was able.

Pretty close family connection to Katie Lucumbell, who is the granddaughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and who just reissued her, her grandfather's autobiography, which was almost out of publication for over four, almost 20, 40 years.

Pretty close to 40 years.

20.

I think she's at 20.

So it's just the idea that, like, to get that research, let's kind of refocus on the connection between what they both did, Lucy and Desi did to create something that, like, we are still talking about to this day.

Yes.

Was Desi a womanizer?

Yes.

Was he a gambler?

So was my Willow.

And they were of that age.

And I can't, you know, but he also was a man that literally, physically, there's a great documentary that Amy Poehler did on both of them, physically.

Almost exhausted himself in the day to day of Desilu Studio so much that like, like, Lucy's like, I, it's better if we divorce and I'll eventually take over.

And then she, she realized, even when she took over, it's like, this is too much to handle.

I have to sell this to Paramount.

Oh, my God.

So, like, no, that's, that's one of the core reasons why I, I, I felt this was important to talk about and to kind of, you know, this is why I want to start off the series.

And Jared and I. Jared agreed.

You know, and the beautiful part of the long, the trailer, it's in the Eastman, the Dryden theaters and Eastman House's collection.

So it was just like an easy yes.

Yeah.

So it's gonna be great.

We get to, I get to interview Katie, talk about her grandfather, who, you know, she's been really wanting to bring up and talk about and, you know, highlight as well as her grandmother.

I mean, they're two pretty big figures in the history of television, in the history of the 20th century, Lucy and Desi.

So, I mean, every child says, you know, we've all heard our parents say, you got some explaining to do.

I mean, it's literally Desi's tagline, right?

Yeah.

And they don't even know where that.

Came from for sure.

You guys understand it,.

Right?

That I, Yeah, I think it's all, all that was Saying too, about how much of a hand that Desi Arnaz hand in, In.

In TV is incredible.

These are not things even if you're taking like.

And I've.

And I've taken the course, you know, and it's been more so with movies and everything.

But even so, like in all of my conversations and all of my learning, you know, about movies, about television, this is not something that's brought up.

I did not know that, like, prior to you saying that, I had no idea.

I'm actually learning that today, Today, years old, where I'm realizing that about Desi Arnaz.

But these are the kinds of things that you don't.

We don't learn about.

And it's something that is mind boggling because when you, of course, when you think about, you know, again, we're in representation in cinema, we're talking about representation.

Like you would think, you know, there would be this push, you know, you know, with, with.

With the people in Hollywood, you know, saying that they are these progressive people and like, you know, wanting to pay homage to the people that came before us and everything like that.

This is not something that is often, I mean, at least with.

In, In.

In, in, in.

From the learning that I've gotten, like, this is not something that is.

And maybe it is.

It's not to say that necessarily, is it, but like, still, I feel like this should be, this should be common knowledge.

And was there also, like.

And I know you said that you'd wanted to highlight Desi Arnaz, but was there, was there any, like, particular reason why you wanted to start off with the long, long trailer?

Oh, I, I mean, because I loved it and it was a movie I actually grew up on.

You know, my Cuban side loved the movie.

My grandparents, my grandfather, who's currently 102 on my dad's side, American side.

I found the VHS just about like three weeks ago.

And I was like, I love.

And I remember watching it with them, you know, so it was a movie that I watched growing up with them.

It's a movie that my mother loves, who's Cuban, you know, it's a movie.

My father, who was a mar.

You know, like, you know, he loved.

So it's just, it's something that, like, we all grew up watching Lucy and Desi.

We always grew up.

You know, you watch the reruns your whole life.

And that was like the first real.

It wasn't their first movie together.

It was actually their second movie together.

Their first movie was a movie they met on which is too many girls.

And it's good, but there's some.

As a Latino, there's some issues.

You know, you have Desi Arnaz playing the conga, the.

As a Mexican student in a Santa Fe style thing.

And it's just very all over the place.

But it's where they met.

It's where they fell in love.

So.

And.

But this is the movie that they made right when the show was blowing up.

So this was like.

And they.

It's really kind of like there's three movies that they made together and three segments of their life where they met the peak of their success.

And the last movie they made, I forgot the name of Forever Darlin.

And it's where they were.

It was pretty much like a year or two before their divorce.

So it's literally the scope of their.

Of their whole marriage is just in three films together.

Remember, Lucy was a major.

I mean, she was a major character actor, but this is the movie that really cemented her in the movies as like her own in some ways.

You know, she was in a lot of character parts.

You know, there was the Lucille Ball type, as you know, that Hollywood have forever.

And Desi.

Desi really didn't do too many movies, you know, because he couldn't get roles because, you know, they just did a.

Hire a Goldman, you know, bandleader.

They just didn't want to.

So I think he was in like some B movies just like Lucy Weekend in Havana, which they shot in Havana.

I think he was in a battleground or battlefield.

It was in a World War II movie while he was serving during that time.

And then.

But this was his first official movie.

Through Too Many Girls was his first official movie he did.

But this is a movie that he kind of helped produce.

Help, you know, him and Lucy produce, found the script, you know, and kind of was like an extension of the show in some ways.

And then.

Sorry, I talked too fast.

No, you're all good.

You are all good.

So do you want to talk about.

Of course, like a little bit about what the long, long trailer is about and when folks can watch that at the Georgie's movie.

Oh, the Long, Long Traveler is just a zany screwball comedy about a couple that wants to travel America in a long, long trailer.

And all the craziness that happens, the whole trailer vibe.

You know, this is post World War II.

This is the mid-50s.

People are buying trailers and they want to take it to the road.

They want to go on Route 66.

They want to, you know, go to the trailer Parks.

It's stuff that we still do all the time, you know, but like this is that kind of vibe of it and you know, like the kind of craziness that happens, you know, with Lucy and Desi at the wheel.

Yeah, yeah.

And you'll see on September 16th and afterwards there'll be a Q and A from Katie Lucumbell, who will be, you know, who's Desi's granddaughter.

So it's going to be great to kind of like talk to someone who actually will even have more deeper knowledge of like this movie because by this time her mother was born.

Wow.

Looking, looking forward to seeing that as well as the post screening discussion.

That'll be amazing.

So let's move on then to Ben Hur.

All right, so tell us your inspiration behind, behind this one a little bit about.

I mean, I know it's like it's, it's definitely Ben Hur's considered a classic, but still.

Tell us again, like about Ben Hur and why you chose Ben Hur.

I'm sorry, sorry.

With the fire trucks behind me.

Oh,.

Why Ben Hur?

And he was the first Latin king.

So last year we talked about the first Latin, you know, the Latin, you know, the, what we consider like one of the great Latin women actresses, early Dolores del Rio, who is from the silent era.

This is our, the male equivalent.

This is Roman Navarro, who was this chiseled, good looking Mexican American actor.

And of course he's doing Ben Hur.

And this is, even though it's a silent film, remember this is the era of there is no safeguards.

You know, like when you see the chariot race, you're seeing it legitly.

Real people racing horses, probably some risk in their life and limbs do this movie.

Yeah.

You know, one of the best selling books written by the sheriff, by the, sorry, the, the governor who chose, who picked Billy the Kid to go, you know, arrest people.

Did you ask?

Interesting fact connected to Mexico.

New Mexico now New America, whatever.

So tell us.

Okay, then tell us then about, tell us then about Ben Hur.

Well, I think Ben Hur, it's the traditional Ben Hur story of a young Israeli during the time the Roman occupation brought it to Rome to become a Roman, and meets Jesus on the side of the road, fights off his brother who's also a Roman.

And it's this story of fictional story of connecting historical, fictional story connecting the early Bible times and the time of the crucifixion with, you know, like, like the Roman Empire.

So it's, you know, chariot races and storms and slavery and freedom and all this other stuff that kind of highlights the kind of that aspect of the biblical epic that was.

We still have to this day.

I mean, we kind of saw Odyssey and Odyssey is like the sword and sandal epics.

We now, we're still.

This is the early sword and sandal.

And we're still literally.

I just saw another sword and sandal yesterday, you know, 70 mil.

So it still exists in Hollywood.

It's still a genre.

And to have a Latino in that genre in the big budget format from the very early on, it's amazing.

Yeah.

And fun fact, I've never seen Ben Hur.

I actually haven't seen any of them.

I've never seen it either.

You haven't?

Okay.

See, well, yeah, so for the film series, any of the film nerds that are paying attention to us, like, listen, okay, don't.

This is Jared's pick.

This is Jared.

Don't come for us.

This is Jared's pick.

Okay?

So he'll know more about it.

So he'll be a great person to talk about it.

But I mean, there's a few of the films I, I mean, I've seen.

Actually I've seen almost all of them.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

But Ben Hur.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because Ben Hur is also too, like, when you talk about epic, I mean, yeah, it's, it's.

It definitely.

It feels like one of those, you know, like there's, there's the constant, like, critique that Christopher Nolan's films.

Who's, Who's.

What do you call it?

Sword and sandal epics that you saw yesterday.

Yeah.

That his films are too long.

And I was like, this is right up there.

This is like 2 hours and 20 minutes, right?

It's 140.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I'm like, it's.

We complain about that, but I just watched two hours of like the Lanterns, but no complain.

But people see.

But people.

I think, I think what happens is people watching, when they're binge watching shows, there are like natural breaks.

Like, you're watching that in your home.

You know, if you're getting up to go to the bathroom or grab a snack or dinner or whatever it is, like, you get to do that in a.

In a.

In a movie setting.

It's like, no, you're there.

Like, you're there for that.

Which for me, I'm like, listen, I.

And most.

Most movies.

But that's why.

That's when that time they had intermission.

We need to bring back intermission.

We need to bring back.

They had intermission back then.

This is not me complaining.

They had to change reels so they knew people had to go to the bathroom.

There we go.

So bring back intermission.

Okay.

So this is starting our campaign to bring back intervention.

They think we better leave the studio, man.

Just freaking.

Just so buy more food, for goodness sake.

I.

And yes, I don't usually.

I usually don't complain.

Most movies that are that long or longer.

I'm.

I'm.

I mean, I'm there.

I'm tuned in.

Like, I, you know, it's.

It's fine for me, but I also feel like people.

I'm like most of your.

Most of the action movies that you're watching or leaning, especially if you're watching like, superhero movies or, again, anything that's personal.

And.

Wait, what did you say?

Like, was that Avengers endgame is like three hours?

It's like closer to three hours.

Yeah, but I'm like, you guys, it's like 20 more minutes than what you normally watch.

So if you could just hang on, like, the 20 extra minutes.

And also, even Nolan has said I created bricks in the movie to go to the bathroom.

You know, there's Salent scenes.

You could sit there, you know,.

Now I'm trying to think about which, like, if I'm thinking about my most.

Oh, it's between.

It's between.

I've probably seen the Batman more times than Interstellar at this point, but.

Or.

Or Inception at this point.

But like, I'm trying to think of, like, not have to go back and be like, where are the scenes in which he's talking about?

Or when he's.

When you could naturally just go to the bathroom and nothing you won't.

And I think in Odyssey, there was Odyssey.

There's a lot of bunk scenes.

Okay, so getting back to this is.

See, this is what happens every time we get on tangents.

But that's fine because this is representation Cinema Podcast is what we do.

Okay, so when can folks watch Ben Hur?

Ben Hur.

They are going to be seeing that on September 22nd with a live piano accompaniment.

Nice.

Nice.

Amazing.

Okay, so, yes, for music and film, that'll be amazing.

Now, the next film I know we've talked about on the podcast before, but I'm really personally excited about this one.

I mean, this one and the, the next one, but that would be Zoo, because of course, because of course we have to include Zoot Suit because it's Edward James Olmos and the Legend.

Yes, I, I, I'm pretty sure I already know your answer to why you chose this one.

Why you and you chose this one.

But of course I want to hear it from you.

So, I mean, I mean, it's Eddie James almost.

It's the role that, like, I, I mean, if you watch, like, this is the role that made him.

And also if you watch Blade Runner, literally he's playing like this similar character, because I think Ridley Scott was like, I saw Zuzu.

Yeah, yeah, I want that guy.

But Zuzu is written by Luis Valdez, who was an activist, he worked with of Dos Huertas and Caesar, created the first Chicano theater and plays and stories.

And, like, just being Latino in L. A, like, is, you know, they were, they were the ones being targeted for these flashy, long suits that they thought, well, these are criminals.

These have some criminals.

So it led to a massive riot in la.

And it talks about this, but this is kind of like a weird play where Edward James Olmson's character is his character, but he's almost like the devil or trickster in the kind of narrative of the film.

And he's kind of like, going around, like, talking about, like, leading these characters, like, through this situation where, you know, they're imprisoned, where all this stuff happens, you know, the darkness of all this stuff.

And he plays this, this Latin trickster character that exists in Latin culture, especially in Mexico and American folklore.

So he plays this character that is narrow, both the narrator and presenting the audience into the story.

It's almost like a play on a film in a film.

It has this very weird elements.

There's even a live audience in the movie, you know, like, that are watching it are predominantly white.

So it's a very, it's like he's reflecting the narrative back at you.

And I mean, it's, it's, it's.

Luis Valdez, to me, is one of the most underrated directors, one of the writers of our times and directors of our time.

He, you know, the movies that he's made have lasted Zoot Suit and La Bamba.

You know, La Bamba is one of the greatest, you know, films that talk about.

And he created that also, which is amazing is WSXI is going to be having.

They're going to be showing American Pachuco and will be there presenting at the, at that time.

I believe it's going to be around October 3rd.

Okay.

The confirmed date for it.

But they're going to be showing Merrick Bridges right before we show Zeus at the Dragon.

So it's, I've talked to Feluccans.

We're, we're, we're talking about creating like that little connection because we really want to talk about Luis Valdez and what Edward James almost Luis VEZ did.

You know, they created something that, you know, has expanded on, you know, just the films that they produced and they were involved in the directors that they worked with, Gargari, Nava and you know, the actors that we all know from J.

Lo to, you know, Asea Morales, who was just in the last Mission Impossible Connects, Benz Desi, you know, Isai Morales, who's in La Bamba.

So like, that aspect is very connected to everything.

And even Ase Morales, who is Puerto Rican, is most known for playing Mexican, you know, which connects into the next film.

You, you are going to be talk.

You're excited to see.

Oh, yeah, you can.

You want to say it?

Well, I'm not going to mention it because I had, I had one more question before I move on to that other, that other one.

Yeah, let's talk about it.

Well, I had a question though.

You mentioned about the, the.

So this trickster character from Mexican folklore.

Who, what is the, what is the trickster or who is the trickster?

Rather like a devil.

And he, you know, they're play.

He's playing like leading these characters into.

To their deaths in some ways, you know, but like he is the character, the narrator of the story and he plays it with, you know, he, like when you see him on the screen, he's super smooth.

Like, he is a super smooth, like super smooth.

And like, you know, and he plays and he's narrating right to the camera, telling you about everything that's going to happen and narrating about everything that's going to happen.

So he is like, is he the devil?

Is he this trickster?

Is he.

What kind of unnatural element is he bringing?

Because he's defying reality.

He's Breaking the fourth wall throughout the whole movie.

He breaks the fourth wall.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So yeah, I'm excited to see this one.

I'll be excited to see that one on the big screen because before I'd only seen it on like my TV and everything, you know, watching on.

I think it was on Amazon prime at the time.

I don't know if it's still there, but y' all will be able to watch it on the big screen at George Eastman Museum on what day that.

Is gonna be on?

I always gotta remember all my dates.

I'm October 7th.

Okay, October 7th.

7Th.

October 7th.

At 7:30.

And are there any post screening discussions or.

Not that I know of.

We haven't really discussed anything.

But that could.

That could change.

But I haven't really had any post screening discussions about it.

All right, so now we can also talk about the Addams Family.

Addams Family values.

The second one.

Okay, my bad.

The most memed one.

It's the most memed one.

Most memed one, I think because it.

Has like, you know, Joan Cusack's character who's brilliant.

You have the whole subplot of Wednesday and Pugsley at the summer camp, you know, like, which literally is in every meme, you know, like every Thanksgiving.

Every Thanksgiving.

There are tons of memes.

Yep.

At that one.

Yep.

And it's like you see it every Thanksgiving that meme from it.

So we had to choose it, but we had to choose it for one big reason.

Gomez Adam is played by the great Latino actor.

I mean, I actually have his poster right here.

Raul Julia.

You know, that's a Threepenny Opera.

Like I actually like.

He is considered one of the greatest Broadway actors of all time.

He probably.

If you ever want to watch an amazing online, it's clipped in parts, but there's a production attainment of the Shrew with him and Meryl Streep.

Insanely awesome.

I've seen that.

I've seen that on video.

Insanely awesome.

He's so good.

He's so charming.

He's so brilliant.

And you know, he was one of the greatest Latino actors of the 80s into the 90s.

He played villains, he played these bigger life characters.

He, he was in Kisses Spider Woman as this gay, you know, as this man with this gay character who's in prison, like a revolutionary and this transvestite character and like their narrative and their relationship, you know, like how that like.

And he, he was brilliant.

He played Oscar Romero, the great archbishop of El Salvador who was shot, you know, so like You.

He is.

He also played General Bison in one of his last movies when he was dying of cancer.

He was playing.

Playing an over the top character for his sons.

And it's still one of the great villains in a horrible movie.

One of the great.

Yeah, but Addams family values.

It's Gomez Addams.

And my personal opinion, like, when people watch Wednesday, they cast everybody Latino except for Catherine Zeta Jones in that show because of him.

I think that's why we have a genera.

I think because you have such a Latino character, Fred Armisen, who's Latino, you know, like the Gomez Latino.

Like, even the kid, the Pugsley Latino.

Like, they've cast everybody but, like Tyler Lamont, but then, you know, like, as Latina all the.

Yeah, sorry, I wanted to finish your thought.

Everybody in the Adam side is Latino.

Like, and I think that is specifically because of how brilliant of a role he played.

Him and Anjelica Huston have the greatest on screen chemistry of all time.

You know, like, I don't know how many couples share, I mean, me and my girlfriend share, you know, how many couples dressed up as Gomez and Morticia because of this movie, because of how beautifully acted Raul Julia is.

Because we love.

We all want to be Gomez Adams.

We're gonna love someone to their death, you know, and just adore her and like, passion, you know, like, she's a man that every woman, you know, would love.

There's not enough yearning.

There's not enough yearning in.

In the.

And he does it.

Yeah.

This is so brilliant.

And I. I can't even explain how brilliant he is in that movie.

And, like, I haven't seen this.

I'm excited to receive it in the theater because last time I saw it was in the theater when I was a child.

So to kind of like, re.

Approach this movie now as an adult.

It's going to be great to kind of see him as an adult, because it's been almost 40 years since I've seen this movie.

It's like 30 years.

Over 30 years.

So.

Yeah.

And I love that you brought up Jenna Ortega, because I was just thinking about the show Wednesday.

So in the.

I haven't seen the second season.

It's on my list of, you know, shows to get to.

But in the first season, they work.

The fact that one of her ancestors.

Her ancestors are also Latin.

Right.

Like, they work that into the lore of the show.

And so I think, again, going off of, like, legacy because of just like, you can't imagine anyone else playing Gomez.

You can't imagine anyone else I mean,.

The only other person.

I mean, yes, there have been other.

Actors for, I think Oscar Isaac.

I think Oscar Isaac, another Latino could kill as Gomez Adams.

But he's only.

He's voiced it, but he's just doing his best Raul Julia impersonation.

Right.

Like, and he'll even say that I.

Was just doing Raul Julia.

Exactly.

So I think when you're talking about legacy and, like, what.

What comes after, right.

Because of the incredible work.

Right, that.

That he's done, the incredible work that those two, like, the chemistry that those two had together.

Right.

You know, then with further, you know, future iterations, you know, that, like, we're seeing in Wednesday of the television show, like, this is how you get that.

Like, oh, this is.

This is clearly a Latin family.

This needs to be.

We need to continue in that said tradition.

And I just think that's beautiful.

And then also to seeing again, that lore being worked into there with what one of the episodes, they're talking about their ancestors or their ancestors, one of their ancestors shows up.

Right.

And so there's all of this.

It's just adding to that.

To that lore.

It's like, no, this is a Latin family.

This is.

This has to be someone who is.

Who is of that identity.

Right.

Who needs to play this role.

So I. Yeah, I just love that.

And of course, yeah, the memes again, this is like one of the things from, like, my childhood, you know, especially around Halloween time.

This is something that's being shown on TV a lot.

And so I'd always usually catch it, and usually it'd be around the Thanksgiving scene that I'm catching it in the middle.

But yeah, no, that's.

Programmer had a very devilish mind going, like, yeah, let's just put this anti Thanksgiving comments.

Let's say it's gonna be between Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Perfect.

Yeah.

Yes.

And so when can folks catch the addams Family values?

October 15th.

Sweet.

Okay.

Awesome.

All right.

And now.

And then getting into our last.

Our last film of the Latin cinematic heritage series is La Strada.

You want to tell us about that film?

And also, again, what.

What was your motivation for showing you and Jared's motivation for showing this dumb.

Well, first, we were trying to get real women to have curves, to be honest.

But, like, the movie rights were pretty hard to get.

But we naturally, early on in our discussions were always open in the avenue for Anthony Quinn.

And we all love the films of Anthony Quinn.

And Anthony Quinn is, again, another Mexican American actor, very similar to Wilfrida Hayworth of a time where you had to change your name, you know, to survive.

But yet Anthony Quinn, he could play almost every culture.

You know, he's in Lawrence of Arabia.

He's playing, you know, Middle Eastern, Italian, Greek, you know, Zorbo the Greek, you know, like, he played Pancho Villa.

He played everything, you know.

But, like, that's what's so great about Anthony Quinn, because he could play all these roles.

He could play Italian, he could play Latino.

But, yeah, it was.

We always said, well, we gotta mix it up for Anthony Quinn, you know, like, if.

If the film that we originally plan, it falls through, we're just going to find something that that is, like, showcases the greatness of one of, you know, the 20th century's great Latino actors, you know, who, you know, has so many memorable roles.

I mean, you could say he's, you know, he's Paul Yegan and Lust for Life against Kurt Douglas.

He.

Zorbo the Greek.

I mean, come on.

I mean, like, I guess he outshines Marlon Brando and Zapata as well.

Pancho Villa.

Like, he's in Requiem for Heavyweight, one of the best boxing movies.

He just looks the part broken and, you know, and this movie is la.

It's Federico Felini.

It's Federico Fellini's wife, you know, and the idea that they hired a Latin American actor from Hollywood, this is also a man who literally is connected.

Anthony Quinn's first wife was Cecil B. DeMille's daughter.

You know, like, wow.

So, yeah, he has some connections to film everywhere, you know, and he's this character that so connected into Latin culture, Latin history, like film history, like, film, contemporary history, the people he worked with.

And for La Strada to be one of Fellini's greatest movies, highlighted his wife, who I believe won an Oscar for this movie, and I believe even he won an Oscar, was nominated, I have to check on that.

But, like, you know, he plays this.

This circus performer, this strong man, you know, with his wife, who's the clown, and this.

This kind of like, unconventional, you know, traveling circus that goes town to town in the villages of Italy.

And the way that they capture that, the way they capture that relationship, he's loud and abusive and tough, you know, but he plays this character that's also fragile and weak as a man, you know, and, you know, his wife, who's, yes, the clown, you know, smiling, but also, you know, like, high in his sorrow is such A unique movie.

And the idea that Fellini wanted him, you know, like, wanted that guy to be in his movie, like an Italian director, you know, like, this is before Eight and a Half, this is, you know, he had just done a few other, you know, like several other, you know, a bunch of other films.

But this is the movie that like, really started kind of crossing him over the Atlantic, you know, La Strada, because it had Anthony Quinn probably the reason they even got the money.

I bet you I have to look it up.

But they probably got the money because they needed a Hollywood actor and it was a good script.

But Anthony Quinn, to me, is somebody I grew up watching.

I saw him in Walk of the Clouds when he played, you know, the father in law to Keanu Reeves character, you know, the grandfather.

He was this kind of like Latin grandfather, but he also played Italians, you know, like, you know, and then when I was a kid seeing Zorbo for the first time over the Greek, and then of course, watching Lawrence Arabia where he has that big fake nose, but he just steals everything from everybody.

And this larger than life character that, you know, at times, like, makes Peter, a tool, seem small.

So I was like, yes, of course we had to show Anthony Quinn and end it with Anthony Quinn, you know, because there's so many movies that we can come back to from him.

It's like we can grab so much from him.

Stuff that are in the collection, stuff that are not in the collection.

But it's like, because Anthony is just a person that like, to me, always is within film narrative.

Like, you know, we talked about Jared and I talked about lust for life, you know, like him as Paul Gagon, you know, again, another role Isaac.

Isaac played with Flame duo always fell into the famous line, you know, like.

But like that connected of, you know, like narrative of like, these are people that lay down.

I think in many ways this whole film series is about.

These are the guy, the men who laid down the groundwork for many of the Latinos, the set foot.

If it's, you know, Raul Julia, Ramon Navarro at the very beginning, Desi Arnaz, creating.

They had to create something.

They had to do everything.

They had to be the Everyman, you know, Desi had to be the everyman.

Dan, literally, Anthony Quinn had to be the Everyman, you know, and then you have these guys that created something so that other Latinos can be everywhere, you know, like all these new generations are laid on.

These are the guys that built that foundation, you know, from the first Stones or from Ramon Navarro to Desi Helping literally plan out some of the times, the foundation to, you know, Luis Valdez, creating a stronger, like, more politically focused in Edward James, almost like creating these characters that live on and also pushing a whole new generation on.

And then you had Raul Julia, who did the same, but also said, look, we can be the Oscar winners.

We can.

We don't have to change our names.

We don't have to do this.

We can be our 100% Latin self.

We don't have to pretend to be a character like Desi had to be, or, you know, like, drop our name.

Like.

Like.

Like.

Like Anthony Quinn had to.

We can be us.

And I think, like, you have the, you know, there would.

Anthony.

There wouldn't be the Edward James Olmos, you know, without the Anthony Quinn, without the Desi, who had to do that for them, you know, like.

So I think.

And then from Ramon, who had to be the first person to kind of, like, deal with it and also deal with the productions that being thrown under, you know, under the bus.

The Latin lover, the stereotype, you know, like, so you.

You have these.

These pulls that.

That exist within.

Within.

Within cinema.

We don't get to talk about it that much.

And I think it's.

It's.

It's like.

It's very unique seeing this series compared to last year, to see how everything mirrors itself.

You know, we're not even trying to mirror itself.

We're just naturally going, oh, wow.

Yeah, that happens.

And, you know, it's something that I think needs to grow and tell stories.

I want Latinos to be told our stories more.

I want our films to be told more, especially in this time where we're going through very hardships, you know, so.

Yeah, and I was gonna ask this next question, but I feel like you answered it already, which was, what did you want audiences, you know, with this series this year to take away right from the experience.

Too bright.

What I want to take them away is that we've always been here, you know, right now, as, you know, personal stuff that is going on with my.

My family and, you know, everything that's happening within this time.

It is a struggle for us to be Latino without fear, you know, And I think what needs to be told more and more is that we've had these men and women that have been fearless, you know, and telling our stories and.

And I. I think that's what I want people to know more of.

I want them to know that this is something that exists because we've always been here.

You know, it's, as you said, before, like, you know, you're asking about, like, why hasn't that Sir.

Nez.

Stories being told?

Latinos are very culturally erode.

Like there's a very strong in America cultural erosion or Latin, like, erasure of our culture.

It's within a black culture as much.

But I often think, like, you know, like, black culture is like, well, we created jazz, but with a little help from Latinos, you know, like, you know, like with that, you know, like with this.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, there's certainly.

There's.

There's definitely.

And then white culture just erases it altogether.

Yeah, yeah, but we all love the.

We love the aspects of our culture that look good on paper.

Gotcha.

Yeah, yeah.

Sorry.

Yeah.

No, you're.

No, you're all good.

No, I.

It is also too there.

I've seen.

There have been at least online I've.

I've heard different folks, you know, talk about how, you know, Latin, Latin people, like, are all.

Are also depend.

Of course, this depends on like, where you're from coming from.

But like, yeah, like it.

They're also indigenous and we see that in indigenous.

With indigenous culture, with indigenous history.

We also see the rate.

We also see a lot of erasure.

We see a lot of.

There's the invisibility.

Right.

Like, you've been.

We've been here.

We've always been here, but like not talked about.

Whereas I think.

I mean, there's, of course, like you were saying before, there's.

There's.

There's erasure, you know, in black culture.

Culture, but it's also there.

There's erasure, but there.

And there's also this distortion.

The white.

There's this whitewashing.

There's this kind of like, okay, we'll tell your story, but we're going to.

We're going to whitewash it to hell.

Like, like it's, you know, or it's going to be something that's very, very stereotypical.

Right.

We've seen this in early days with, With a.

With someone like, step and fetch it.

Right?

He's playing this like, unintelligent person, you know, who's la.

Who is seen as lazy, like, all these different things.

And so I feel like, yeah, there are definitely similarities, you know, between the cultures.

But then also.

Then talking about.

Again, just.

Again, this is.

Again, this is why you say we have a podcast called Representation of Cinema where we're talking about these things.

Because.

Because, you know, these.

You know that.

That representation when you're talking about.

Especially when we.

In this time where we're where we're seeing, you know, I'm just going to say it.

It's a terrorist organization.

You know, this.

This terrorist organization called ICE that is ripping people from their families, ripping families apart, ripping people off the street.

You know, we're talking about representation here, but it also has to do a lot with, you know, when we're seeing things on screen and it's being told, well, it's often imitating what's going on in real life.

So when we are, you know, educating ourselves about history, when we're talking about the disparities in racial, you know, injustice and inequity, you know, you know, we see that, right?

It's kind of like Hollywood kind of mirrors that.

You know, whereas folks were afraid to use their real name to.

Now folks are like, no, we're going to get the Oscar.

We're going to be getting.

Getting the Oscar using our real, actual name.

You're also going to learn our name.

Trying to.

Trying to do everything possible to survive, right?

In a time where being outwardly, you know, Latin, right, Being yourself, being, you know, identifying with, you know, your, Your heritage is seen as like.

Seen as a threat, seeing as something that needs to be getting rid of, seen as something that needs to hide in the shadows or being put, thrown under the bus.

Like, it's.

Yeah, I. I think, like the work that we do here, I think.

I think talk to, continue to talk about, you know, how these narratives that you're seeing on screen often imitate and can be talked about along with the history.

As you've been talking, I've just been hearing all these things about history, like our history and the history talk about.

So I even.

It kind of reminds me of something.

Like I was listening when I was listening to Desi's biography, autobiography, he talks about his family ancestry from Spain.

They owned his ancestor, literally his great grandfather, great, great grandfather, great grand owned Ventura in Beverly Hills.

Is the Latino when it was the colony of Mexico.

So literally the home where he landed and built his.

His work and built everything is literally on land that his family literally owned, like centuries before, two, three centuries.

Like not even a century before, a century before, not even.

Like his family owned the land where he would make his career, you know, and he was talking to another lady who.

Where the Ventura highway is that one of his cousins he found when he was back in Hollywood.

And it's like, imagine that and she's like, every time I go to the market, I get so angry.

Yeah, that was taken from us.

Yeah.

You know, like.

And it was just like.

Like, that's.

That's the aspect of our erosion that we don't talk about.

You know, right now we have a leader that does AI images of the border.

That was our land with the Native Americans.

We would set.

Like, Mexicans and Latinos have that land.

Yes, there was.

Yes, there was revolts.

Santa Fe revolt in the.

But there was also very good passive environment between Native Americans and Latinos for a very long time.

You know, like, so, like, people forget that that existed.

Yeah.

You know, there was cultural.

Very early on, it started bad, very bad.

But we also became indigenous to the people.

Our DNA is indigenous to this land, to America.

It's our America, not his America.

It's not New Mexico.

It's gonna be New Mexico.

It's gonna be the Gulf of Mexico.

Because it's always been the Gulf of Mexico and it will always be the Gulf of Mexico.

Just like half of the United States was Mexico or Cuba or Spain, you know, like, who made Miami?

Us Cubans did.

If you look at Miami 60 years ago, it was a backwater town of half empty buildings.

We made it a capital of the world, you know, and people forget that.

People forget that we did that, you know, and they want us to not remember that.

Yeah, they don't want us to know our stories because they don't want us hear our stories.

And that's what's struggling right now is like, we're literally watching the erasure of our stories.

We're watching young and I can say this, we're watching a lot of young and Latino and black men join ICE in larger numbers, you know, incels and Asian youth, like, and it doesn't good money.

And they don't care.

They hear the narrative and they hear the narrative and the story that they're seeing online is not them.

No.

You know, yeah, it's some other generation, some other people's problems.

They need the money to survive, you know, and we forget black men and Latino men and Asian men are not some of the newest recruits of us.

So I listen, I could go on a whole other conversation, but we'll be here forever.

We'll be here forever.

So.

No, Jason, I really do appreciate, again, this is the third year now, right?

This is the second year at the Dryden Theater.

This is the third year of us doing this.

Yes.

Hopefully next year we'll be doing something.

I am Working with WXXI to kind of keep it both at the Eastman and at the little.

You know, to kind of keep it expanded and keep it growing.

Yeah.

And keep telling the stories.

Absolutely.

You know, like to keep.

To keep us.

To keep us happy, you know, to have this narrative being told in this time.

That's.

To me, the most important job I can do right now is to tell our stories through film, just like my cousin wanted.

Anna, so.

Absolutely.

So, Jason, before I wrap this episode up, thank you again so much for joining the podcast.

Once again.

Can you.

Do you want to give a little plug about International Paddle?

Yes.

Well, the season's coming to an end.

This is next week starts Hispanic Heritage Month, so we'll be having events throughout the season, all the way up until October 11th.

We'll have whole different variety events.

So I'm excited about it.

You know, it's.

It's growing.

We've had a record number of attendants this year, which I'm very happy about.

We just finished our first ever.

The Trans Awareness event was actually held at the Plaza.

Their first ever was held there.

So we had a very good attendance there.

So I'm very excited, always excited to see it grow.

It's.

It's a unique experience and a unique environment, and I get to work with my community and get to see the kind of ins and outs of my community.

Awesome.

All right, so that is going on now until you said October 11th.

October 11th, our season ends.

Yep.

All right, Perfect.

All right.

I'll make sure to have information about that and about Jason as well as the series in our show notes or of course, in the description, if you're watching on YouTube.

So, of course, if you liked this episode, make sure you go and give it five stars, as well as letting us know in the comments what you specifically liked about tonight's episode.

You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Threads.

You can also visit ourvoicesproject.com and sign up for our newsletter for more information about what we do.

Be sure to come back to this podcast as we'll be having some spoiler special episodes.

So, of course, if you.

You haven't watched the films, what are we even doing?

Make sure you go and watch those at the George Eastman museum again starting September 16, and then come back and join us for our spoiler special episodes, breaking down each film, talking about what we liked about it, some more of the history, and that'll be going on again throughout the rest of this month as well as October.

And of course, this is Jack if McGriff, your host for this episode of Representation in Cinema.

As always, thank you for listening.