Cultural Exchange

The Sundance Institute’s Latin American Screenwriter Workshop appears to be the cultural and artistic equivalent of NAFTA (“Adventures in the Cultural Divide,” by Lorenza Munoz, Sept. 24).

Here come Robert Redford and his minions south of the border to “support” and “nurture” filmmakers with advice on how to make the projects more appealing to Miramax, the characters more heroic. About the only promising note in Munoz’s excellent article was the postscript revealing how all of the Sundance advisors’ notes to the Latin filmmakers were largely (and thankfully) ignored.

Cultivating and showcasing the talents of Latin American filmmakers have always been a noble and worthwhile mission for Redford. But when a “no-nonsense Texan” like L.M. Kit Carson is compelled to “insult” a filmmaker so that the latter can “break through,” all the subsequent love-hugs in the world cannot disguise what’s really going on: the worst of our culture is poisoning another.

WILLIAM PRUITT

Los Angeles