Public Broadcasting Grants Given to Latino Filmmakers

By DANA CALVO

Nov. 25, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

One dozen filmmakers, half of them based in California, received grants this week totaling nearly $600,000 for their projects examining Latino life. The themes range from the determination of a Los Angeles Chicano policeman to build a relationship with his daughter to the tensions in the northern Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, which has been terrorized by a serial killer for six years.

“We had young Latino producers, veteran producers. We also had documentaries, dramas and series,” said Marlene Dermer, executive director of Latino Public Broadcasting, one of five minority consortia distributing funds for the Corp. for Public Broadcasting.

As of press time, the amount awarded to each filmmaker had not been divulged.

Actor Edward James Olmos, who chairs LPB, announced he had initiated a separate matching fund for independent producers. After reviewing 132 submissions, he said he wished he had been able to fund more films.

“There is an abundance of talent and good ideas in the Latino community,” Olmos said.

The following winning films will air on public television stations nationwide:

* “The Head of Joaquin Murrieta,” John Valadez, New York.

* “Red Water,” Ray Telles and Vincent Gutierrez, Oakland.

* “Bomba: A Life in Dance,” Ashley James, Searchlight Films, Berkeley.

* “Demystifying the Demon,” Stephanie Rauber, New York.

* “Death Comes to the Maquilas,” Lourdes Portillo and Jennifer Maytorena Taylor, San Francisco.

* “Playing the Game: Soccer and Life in the City,” Walter Schlomann, Brooklyn, N.Y.

* “Cuban Roots / Bronx Stories,” Pam Sporn, Bronx, N.Y.

* “Every Child Is Born a Poet: The Life and Work of Piri Thomas,” Jonathan Meyer Robinson, When in Doubt Productions, San Francisco.

* “The Blue Diner,” Natatcha Estebanez, Watertown, Mass.

* “The Puerto Rican Soldier,” Noemi Figueroa Soulet, El Pozo Productions and Fred Noriega Productions, Yonkers, N.Y.