Bien Hecho: Working To Showcase Latino Film

Since 2005 John Ramirez has been heading up the Reel Rasquache Art & Film Festival in Southern California, an event billed as the only film festival in the world to deal exclusively with the U.S. Latino experience. The festival was held this past weekend in Pasadena, California.

Our weekly segment, “Bien Hecho,” highlights the good deeds and achievements of Latinos across the U.S. If you feel that someone you know is deserving of recognition, let us know at tips@newstaco.com.

Ramirez is a professor of film at Cal State University – Los Angeles and studied film at UCLA. The 22 films at the eighth annual festival included shorts, features, horror movies and films made by high school students. The Ventura Star reported:

“Our purpose is to showcase films that deal with the U.S. Latino experience…We look for films that capture the unique flavor that is Latino, that unique twist — which is cool because anyone coming to the festival, not just Latinos, can relate to that.”

The U.S. Latino experience, he noted, includes immigration, keeping families together, dealing with relationships, struggling to achieve success, aging, interracial marriages and youth issues. That’s a heavy slate, but Ramirez said it’s not all serious, citing two films, “Police Chicks” and “No Kids, No Cry,” that look at female undercover cops and child support, respectively, through humor.

For more information abou the Reel Rasquache Art & Film Festival, check out their website.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD