Chicano Filmmakers Find Unity in Mexico

In the early 1970s, filmmakers Luis Valdez, Moctesuma Esparza, Jesus Trevino and Gregory Nava knew each other as young Chicanos hungry for social justice and a share of the American dream. The only tools they had to fight the oppressive political conditions they perceived were their youth, will power and emotions.

Emotion, combined with frustration, brought differences in ideology, tactics and strategy. So each went his separate way to start the struggle to overcome the odds and break into the Hollywood Establishment.

In the 1990s, no longer powerless, they have come together again, through “Chicanos ‘90,” a collective recognition of their individual talents that took place last February in Mexico City.

Now they have buried their rusty hatchets, with the realization that their feelings for the Chicano movement and their idealism never faded.

As producer Esparza explains, “They (the ideals) have resurfaced but now at a new time and place, with the very same people, as professionals, bringing along a new generation. We are (no longer) clamoring for power. We have our own personal power.”

Their power stems from their achievements, such as Valdez’s “La Bamba,” Esparza’s “The Milagro Beanfield War,” Trevino’s “Raices de Sangre” and Nava’s “El Norte.”

Within two months of their Mexican encounter, Valdez organized what he called a “meeting of minds” in San Francisco, to plan artistic and political strategies for the future. Other Chicanos, such as Paul Espinosa, Isaac Artenstein and Joe Aubel, whose work was also honored in Mexico, were at the San Francisco meeting too. They were joined by 20 writers, directors, producers, and representatives of the National Council for La Raza, Nosotros, the Latino Writers Group, the Hispanic Academy of Media, Arts and Sciences, and the Mexican Museum of San Francisco.

Host Valdez opened the day-long meeting by introducing the participants in “Chicanos ‘90” and asking them to give their impressions of the memorable week. Esparza appeared to sum up the feelings of the group: “I felt for the first time that Mexico was embracing us, as truly brothers and sisters, on an equal level. It was like the prodigal son coming home.”

Production designer Joe Aubel said of his colleagues, “We went (to Mexico) as individuals and came back as a group.”

Valdez talked about the necessity of continuing the Chicano movement in order to fight Hollywood’s racism, discrimination and stereotyping. “I’m up to here” with it, he said.

But, Valdez continued, “They made a mistake with me. They let me taste a little success and now I have my knife out. I want a bigger piece of the pie.”

As one example, Valdez told his guests that he cannot understand why Hollywood refuses to issue his movie “Zoot Suit” in videotape. Others then told the meeting of their own frustrations.

The participants offered to support the newly formed Media Task Force, proposed by the National Council of La Raza, whose main purpose will be to work to improve the portrayal of Latinos in the media.

Then they moved to discuss their newly found common friend: Mexico. The culmination of “Chicanos ‘90” week had brought about the Fundacion Chicanos Noventas, sponsored by the Washington-based National Council of La Raza and 13 Mexican official and private organizations. Its purpose is to encourage cultural exchange between Mexican and Chicano filmmakers and artists.

The exchange includes the opportunity for Chicanos to co-produce films with Mexican movie makers. The meeting’s discussion centered on how to make the most of this opportunity and what to give in return.

Mexico will provide financial support, locations, studios, contacts and inexpensive labor, participants said, in exchange for quality movie ideas that will help open the U.S. market, and assistance in modernizing production and post-production facilities.

“There’s an opening here,” Valdez said, “for at least the next five years of the (current Mexican government), and we should take advantage of it.”

Valdez is already working on three co-productions. He would not give specifics, but one is a documentary on Chichen Itza, site of the Mayan ruins in Yucatan. Another is a six-hour miniseries on history that will be filmed largely in Mexico for U.S. television. And a movie that Valdez says he will shoot in Mexican archeological zones and in Mexico City. “It is a contemporary image of Mexico, with American characters,” he says.

Esparza says, without giving details, that he is also working on two co-productions with independent Mexican filmmakers. “Nothing but mutual benefit will come out of the communication, social interaction and sharing of ideas with our Mexican colleagues,” he said. “Getting to know (each other’s) film work will create the environment that fosters individual cooperation.”

Trevino is a veteran of the Mexican connection. He went to Mexico in 1977 to look for the chance to direct his first feature film, because there was more interest in Mexico in a production about the Chicano experience than there was in the United States.

“I and other Chicanos,” Trevino points out, “have already co-produced films in Mexico, like my own ‘Raices de Sangre,’ and have worked with Mexican crews. Artistically and economically, this is one important, viable way to make films.”

If Trevino found support in Mexico, Nava found violence. While filming “El Norte,” a group of armed thugs came to the set. They demanded his films (about two weeks’ worth of shooting) and held his production manager at gunpoint inside a car. Nava left Mexico as fast as he could with his film and manager in tow--but only after paying a substantial ransom. “El Norte” was shown in Mexico for the first time during “Chicanos ‘90” week.

Nava thinks it helps to have contact with Mexican filmmakers. But to him, having re-encountered his Chicano colleagues is more important than co-productions or “a Media Task Force that may or may not happen.”

The exchange of ideas and experiences, will result in “better, more mature films,” he says, and he hopes that “other independent, much younger filmmakers will be inspired by what we do.” Nava, who says he finds inspiration in Luis Valdez and even in trees, is working on a screenplay for Warner Brothers, and on several projects with Latino themes.

To Trevino, “the goal of us coming together . . . was not to create another organization, but to better coordinate communication and cooperation among Chicano professionals within the motion picture and TV industry.”

Through his experience, Trevino believes that “opportunities to demonstrate our talent, craft and artistry will not be handed to us. . . . We have now the mature skills of talented writers, producers, directors and actors and are . . . ready to take (our) rightful place as mainstream participants. . . . Only by working hard on a united front can we address common issues of exclusion, discrimination and the opportunity that will benefit all of us.”

Isaac Artenstein, whose “Break of Dawn” was telecast in April as part of KCET’s “American Playhouse” series, is idealistic. “I did not go to Mexico with the idea of launching any co-productions. My main interest at this point with Mexico and my Chicano colleagues is to engage in artistic and intellectual dialogue,” he says.

The San Francisco meeting spent time selecting committees to support the Media Task Force and organizing a “Mexicanos ‘91” film festival in Los Angeles to reciprocate for “Chicanos ’90.”

The Chicano filmmakers say they oppose the idea of a formal organization, with its attendant rules and elections, but they are committed to working together, under the name Chicanos Noventas.

“What must come out of these encounters,” Trevino said, “is a renewed sense of commitment to our craft, the opening of new avenues . . . and more extensive exploration of how we can reach Latino audiences.”