DIVERSE BLEND

Thank you for last Sunday’s issue and your stories on the Latino audience, the Native American film “Smoke Signals” and the retrospective of early African American movies. It’s great to see your publication make such a concerted effort to recognize this country’s racial diversity--and how it positively impacts the media.

As Eric Gutierrez’s commentary proves, greater racial inclusiveness on the part of Hollywood will inevitably raise new questions: What makes an “ethnic” film or filmmaker ethnic? When it comes to race, how can Hollywood get beyond superficiality or mere community boosterism to create stories that touch us all?

I have faith in the promise of this country, and I’m sure that these questions will be resolved in the long run. What’s more, these questions don’t contradict the need for inclusiveness in the media.

However, I’m bracing myself for the critics of your stories. After the passage of Proposition 209 and the demonization of race-consciousness as “racial preferences,” I’m sure that you’ll get a few letters decrying the ethnic focus of the issue. I’m sure some of these letters will say that writing articles about minority filmmakers “because of their race” is just another form of “racism.”

But ignoring racial issues isn’t going to undo centuries of minority disadvantage in this country. And I never hear these same critics speaking out against an even worse form of genetic preference: nepotism.

ROBERT PAYNE

Studio City

*

Amy Wallace and Eric Gutierrez present thought-provoking points of view on the status of Latin moviegoing in America today. I believe that production and profits will increase.

I have been America’s largest distributor of classic films for over 25 years. Now, with my partner Lawrence Martin, we are producing and releasing movies that are winning Latin audiences in the U.S. and elsewhere. Lawrence is a third-generation exhibitor of Spanish-language films and remembers when there were 700 full-time and 300 part-time cinemas exhibiting popular Spanish-language films in the U.S.

Our first releases, “Nueba Yol” and “Nueba Yol 3” are in profits in the U.S. alone. On Presidents Day weekend 1996, we had the No. 1 per-screen average in the country. In one Bronx 14-screen multiplex, for example, we outgrossed all opposing Hollywood films put together. A subsequent television airing on a New York Spanish UHF station virtually tied ratings with “Schindler’s List,” which played in the same time slot.

We have several pictures in pre-production. There is a $900-million annual current market for Latin films in the U.S. Working from our facilities in Monterey, we are now making features with Latin casts, writers and directors that speak to (not at) the Latin audience.

KIT PARKER

President

New Latin Pictures

Monterey

*

Has anyone at The Times sent a copy of Calendar to the head honchos at the American Film Institute (“How many Latinos, in or out of the motion picture industry, did you feature to introduce the ‘100 Greatest American Films of the Past Century’ on your TV broadcast?”).

Also, one filmmaker--”who requested anonymity” in Eric Gutierrez’s article--commented that “forty-five minutes into ‘Selena,’ the biggest conflict was whether or not she could wear a bustier.” Did we see the same production? As I recall it, there were some very telling points made early on--and spoken by Edward James Olmos, as Selena’s father--about discrimination and Latinos being regarded as outsiders even when they’ve lived here for several generations.

Maybe said filmmaker--whoever he/she may be--should go back for a second viewing.

DAVID R. MOSS

Los Angeles

*

Like Sherman Alexie, this New Jersey boy saw those Saturday matinees (“I Hated Tonto (Still Do),” June 28). To him, Native Americans meant “circle the wagons--here come the redskins.” Dec. 7, 1941, changed that in many ways.

In World War II, I had the honor to command Company B of the Bushmasters, the most ethnically mixed unit in the entire segregated American military, whose soldiers included Latinos and members of 22 Native American tribes. It was a privilege and honor to serve with these men. Half a century later I am still fighting for them and our denied Presidential Unit Citation.

HAL BRAUN

Hollywood