FESTIVAL ‘ 90 : Today’s Film Highlights

Highlights from more than 100 films and videos from 25 Pacific Rim cultures on the Los Angeles Festival schedule are reviewed here. Information: (213) 623-7400.

Today

EthnoVisions

Today at noon, TransAmerica Center Auditorium, 1149 S. Hill St. Also Sunday, Tuesday and Sept. 12 and 16 in various locations and times. A presentation of Visual Communications, an Asian Pacific American media arts collective. If the other 13 short films are as good as the four that were available for preview, “EthnoVisions,” which is designed to illustrate “the roots of diversity for community-based media in Los Angeles,” is a solid offering. Duane Kubo’s “Cruisin’ J-Town” (1975) documents the durable jazz-fusion band Hiroshima, centering on its leader, Dan Kuramoto, who speaks of the need to break through Asian stereotypes.

David Garcia’s rightly disturbing “Requiem 29” (1970) records the Chicano Moratorium of Aug. 29, 1970, which provoked a brutal response by police and the death of newsman Ruben Salazar and the subsequent inquest. It is marred, though, by the failure to identify key personages. Sylvia Morales’ poetic “Chicana” (1979) offers a reflection on the role, image and contributions of Mexican women from pre-Columbian times to the present. Ben Caldwell’s powerful “I and I: An African Allegory” (1977) is a lyrical, evocative flow of words, music and images in recollection of the frequently brutal black American experience.