HispanicBusiness

In May, as we celebrate Mexican heritage with Cinco de Mayo festivities, cable network Turner Classic Movies will air dozens of movies as part of a Latino-themed film festival, "Race and Hollywood: Latino Images in Film."

The month-long festival will be hosted by UCLA professor Chon Noriega, author of "Shot in America: Television, the State, and the Rise of Chicano Cinema," and TCM's Robert Osborne. Together they will explore how Hollywood has portrayed Latino characters and culture in film.

Forty films, spanning 1910 to 1996 and including four silent movies, will be shown on Tuesday and Thursday nights throughout the month, beginning on Cinco de Mayo. More than half of the films are from the so-called studio era, about 1929 to the 1960s.

"The festival brings nearly a century of Latino-themed films to a national audience," Noriega told HispanicBusiness.com. "Many of these films have not been seen widely since they were released. But collectively they offer an honest look at our cinematic history through Hollywood."

Each night's films will focus on a particular theme, such as border films, boxing films, social problems, youth and gangs, musicals, and families. Among the newer films included in the festival are "La Bamba" (1987), "The Milagro Beanfield War" (1988), "Stand and Deliver" (1988), "The Mambo Kings" (1992) and "Lone Star" (1996).

"For the first time, viewers can see a significant part of the historical record for how Hollywood has portrayed Latinos as the focus of a feature film, not just as incidental stereotypes," said Noriega, a professor in UCLA's Department of Film, Television and Digital Media.

Noriega, who is also Director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, developed a personal interest in Latinos in film when he was in college in the late 1980s. "I was a graduate student in 1987-88 when a series of Latino-themed and produced films were released by studios," he said. These included "La Bamba" and "Born in East L.A."

"There had never been anything like it," he said. "I started studying the press coverage as well as interviewing some of the producers. That led to my dissertation, which looked at the 20 years before, during which Chicano and other Latino filmmakers were trying to gain access to the industry."

Noriega considers "La Bamba" a breakthrough film. "It was the first box-office hit directed by a Latino filmmaker (Luis Valdez) and starring mostly Latino actors," he said. "But the film also marked a shift in Hollywood portrayals, away from social problems and toward a depiction of families as part of the American way of life."

For Noriega, the most influential Latino stars include legends Carmen Miranda, Ricardo Montalban, Rita Moreno and Anthony Quinn, in addition to recent stars Jimmy Smits, Edward James Olmos and Jennifer Lopez.

"It is rare for any actor to break through," he said, "but Latino actors have been much more limited in terms of the roles they have been able to play."

Noriega said there were challenges in assembling a Latino-themed film series.

"There are so few Hollywood films about Latinos," he said. "Certainly Latinos factor into action genres as what one scholar calls 'convenient villains,' but there have been relatively few films that focus on the Latino community as the setting for a story. ... So it was a challenge, but it was also a good reason to put together a festival."

When asked what he would like to see more of in Latino-themed film, Noriega told HispanicBusiness.com:

"Well, I would say Sci-Fi, but that is now covered by Alex Rivera's 'Sleep Dealer,' which is in theaters." During the 1990s there were a number of multi-generational family epics released, such as the Gregory Nava films "Mi Familia" and "Selena," he said. "These are important, but I think we need to see more range and balance in the portrayal of the Latino population. We need comedies, romances, action-adventure, sports films. What tends to happen, though, is that Latino-themed films are mostly social problem films."

Also, in some movies, the key roles are played by non-Latinos.

"Today we can laugh at some of the excesses," said Noriega, "like Spencer Tracy ('Tortilla Flat') or Robby Benson ('Walk Proud') in brown face, but we can also appreciate some of the breakthroughs along the way. It is important that we understand this history, where it comes from, and what is says about the present. The TCM festival gives viewers that opportunity."

For a complete schedule, go here.