The Hispanx / Latinx Film Festival will unveil a diverse cinematic showcase at UT Dallas, spotlighting Latin American and Spanish production screenings spanning numerous genres.
The motion picture gathering – made possible by The UT Dallas Center for US-Latin America Initiatives (CUSLAI) and Pragda – will present screenings of five films on April 11 and 12.
The Hispanx / Latinx Film Festival will launch with four screenings at the courtyard between the Edith O’Donnell Arts and Technology Bldg. (ATC) and the UT Dallas Eugene McDermott Library on April 11, starting at 3 p.m. The showcase will continue through April 12, with a virtual screening of a fifth film.
“What is fun about these particular films is that our film selection committee, consisting of Isabella Sophia Palazuelos, Paulina Vega-Arenivas, and Kristina Denise-Vazquez chose each film after careful deliberation,” said Dr. Toni Viva Muñoz. UT Dallas visiting assistant professor and CUSLAI interim director. “The committee wanted to make sure that different Latin American countries were represented, and the topics were relevant to various to groups.”
The April 11 screening lineup will feature (in order) the Venezuelan film Bad Hair, the Brazilian film The Second Mother, the Chilean film My Brothers Dream Awake, and the Mexican film And Your Mother Too. The following day, the Argentinian film Carajita will be available online through CUSLAI (details on how to access below).
Dr. Muñoz applied for the Pragda’s Spanish Film Club grant on behalf of CUSLAI in October and found out that they received the grant for the second year in a row in December. Last year, Dr. Angela Mooney Rodriguez received the Pragda Grant. The Spanish Film Club provides matching funds to educational institutions to organize Ibero-American film festivals, covering up to 50% of the costs. CUSLAI is funding the other half.
Pragda, a leading educational film distributor for the newest Latin American, Spanish, and Latinx cinema, specializes in bringing diverse documentaries and features to educational institutions worldwide. Their catalog covers the region’s most pressing topics, from the global economy and immigration to feminism, education, international politics, indigenous peoples, the arts, and history.
Pelo Malo [Bad Hair] (2013) – screening on April 11 at 3 p.m.
A nine-year-old boy’s preening obsession with straightening his hair elicits a tidal wave of homophobic panic in his hard-working mother.
Que Horas Ela Volta? [The Second Mother] (2015) – screening on April 11 at 4:45 p.m.
When the estranged daughter of a hard-working live-in housekeeper suddenly appears, the unspoken class barriers that exist within the home are thrown into disarray.
Mis hermanos sueñan despiertos [My Brothers Dream Awake] (2021) – screening on April 11 at 7:15 p.m.
Two brothers have been in a juvenile prison for a year, dreaming. The arrival of a rebellious young man offers a possible escape: the only door to make those dreams come true.
Y tu mamá también [And Your Mother Too] (2001) screening on April 11 at 9 p.m.
In Mexico, two teenage boys and an older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life and each other.
Carajita (2021) screening virtually on April 12
Sara and her nanny, Yarisa, have a relationship that seems to transcend their class conditions: they are the closest thing to a daughter-mother, but an accident will test their intimate loyalty and the innocent illusion that nothing can separate them.
Carajita will be accessible online from April 12 through April 19 at https://pragda.com/sfc-event/the-university-of-texas-at-dallas/ Stay tuned with CUSLAI’s social media accounts for the User ID and password.
Dr. Toni Viva Muñoz-Hunt is a U.S.-Mexico border native whose research focuses include US-Latinx literature, border studies, and the history and pedagogy of the oppressed. Besides leading CUSLAI, Muñoz-Hunt teaches creative writing and is a two-time UT Dallas Alumna who earned an MA in Aesthetic Studies in 2017 and a PhD in Literature in 2021.
CUSLAI’s faculty associates conduct research and offer courses to support undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide array of fields, such as Latin American Studies, International Political Economy, Literature, Global Business, Political Sciences, and Public Policy. While working on her PhD and as a research assistant with CUSLAI, Muñoz-Hunt started the Community Digital Archive Project, where she focused on studying the juxtaposition of multigenerational border residents and recently-settled immigrants.
Since its inception in 1995, CUSLAI (then known as the Center for U.S.-Mexico Studies) has served as the university’s hub for research and educational initiatives in Latin American studies. To produce engaged graduates who are prepared for life and leadership in a constantly changing world, the center involves students every year by sponsoring various initiatives designed to enhance interconnectedness. Some of those include: