I Am Joaquin is a 20-minute short film based on an epic poem published by Rodolfo Corky Gonzales in 1967. Gonzales’ poem weaves together the long tangled roots of his Mexican, Spanish, Indian and American parentage and a past mythology of pre-Columbian cultures. The film is important to the history and culture of Chicanos in America, spotlighting the challenges they have endured because of discrimination. Luis Valdez, often described as the father of Chicano theater, produced and directed I Am Joaquin as a project of Teatro Campesino (the Farmworkers Theater), which he founded in 1965 to inform, encourage and entertain Chicano farm workers. Valdez later directed the Chicano-themed Zoot Suit in 1981, a retelling of the early 1940s Los Angeles race riots, and La Bamba in 1987.
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 04:42:33 +0000
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