WELCOME TO RRFF 08

This is the official website of the 5th Annual Reel Rasquache Festival of the U.S. Latino Experience in Film and Art

from the Director
Prof. John Ramirez

Five years ago, someone had a crazy idea…Let’s make a film festival at Cal State L.A. that will be a unique forum for independent U.S. Latino film works and that will invite our neighboring communities to enjoy their University—a festival that will introduce entertainment industries to our students’ rich and promising talents and will engage the wealth of expertise and creativity of Cal State L.A. faculty.  It will earn the regard of local entertainment industries while celebrating the vast cultural riches of East Los Angeles.  It will welcome the larger Los Angeles community and even partner with the network of local film festivals.  This festival will illuminate Cal State L.A. as a higher education destination of choice for young future entertainment industry creators and cultural producers.  It will do all this and more by showcasing, recognizing, and honoring the U.S. Latino experience in film and art.  And more loco than all this (or maybe because all this is so crazy), we’ll call it Reel Rasquache.

Something so rasquache, so makeshift and thrown together, assembled of neglected, discarded and discovered expressions — stories profane and sacred, poetic and chaotic, legal and illegal — stories of love, loss, strength and survival that intersect the full tapestry of human kind, across nations, ethnicities, classes, ages, genders and sexualities all barely stitched together by the loose ends of history—HISTORIAS—the rich complexity of the U.S. Latino experience. 

Five years ago these goals seemed far away and throughout the past five years the work of reaching these goals has been a labor of love for all who have shared this dream.  Happily, proudly, and with tremendous gratitude to our loyal and dedicated sponsors and audiences, we can say that in five years, the Reel Rasquache Film Festival has made successful and significant inroads toward each of its goals.

Thank you and welcome to Reel Rasquache 2008.

The Calstate L.A. Connection

The Reel Rasquache Festival takes place in the heart of East Los Angeles on the campus of California State University, Los Angeles, at the Luckman Fine Arts Intimate Theatre. Calstate LA serves more than 22,000 students and uses this opportunity to reach out to the community. Fifty- three percent (53%) of Cal State L.A. students are Latino, the majority of whom are first generation college students. The Festival gives students an opportunity to see films that speak to their experiences while sharing those same experiences with a wider public.The Festival is especially designed to involve the University’s neighboring communities of East Los Angeles and to bring a broad base of grassroots, professional and academic community members together with U.S. Latino film and video independents and industry representatives. The goal of the Festival is to build bridges--between East and West Los Angeles, between Latinos and the University, between independent Latino filmmakers and entertainment professionals. Reel Rasquache also provides a forum to acknowledge the contributions of Latinos in the entertainment Industry. Read the History of Reel Rasquache below.

The catalyst for Reel Rasquache was a three-day Latina/o Film/Video Festival at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex hosted by the campus in October 2001 that featured a variety of works by contemporary Latina/o filmmakers. This first attempt to present a film festival was the brainchild of Dr. Richard T. Rodriguez, Assistant Professor of Chicano Studies. Despite the fact that the small 2001 event was planned within a short period of time and with a limited budget, it was well attended by the campus and local Eastside communities, demonstrating the interest a Latina/o film program at Cal State L.A. could generate. Since that first event, Dr. Rodriguez worked with Dr. John Ramirez, Professor of Media Studies and Chair of the Department of Communication Studies, to develop and produce Reel Rasquache 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and now 2008 at the Luckman Complex.

2008 Honorees

• Pioneer Award
• Sylvia Morales
• Trailblazer Award
• Franc. Reyes
• Visit the Honorees Page

• Casa Libre/Freedom House
• Director: Roberto Oregel
• Profiles the lives of teen residents of Casa Libre, a nonprofit organization that provides a home for homeless, undocumented teenagers whose flights from abuse bring them to Los Angeles. Saturday. Program 4. Schedule.

  Muñeca

• Director: Roderick Giles
• The Latino-based romantic comedy revolves around the central character Esteban, who deals with the short-comings of being single until a beautiful life-sized doll shows up at his doorstep. Saturday. Program 5. Schedule
• The 7
• Director: Adam Schlachter
• High school seniors on a field trip to a cave with their science teacher encounter a problem not covered in the class outline. Saturday. Program 6. Schedule
• Alondra Smiles
• Director/Writer: Conchita Nora Villa
• This is a heartwarming family film about a sweet fourteen-year-old girl who’s preparing her coming-of-age celebration amid the emotional turbulence known as adolescence. Sunday. Program 7. Schedule
• 3 Américas
• Director/Writer/Editor: Cristina Kotz Cornejo
• When tragedy strikes, 16 year old, América Hart Campos is sent to Argentina to live with her anti-American grandmother, Lucía América. América struggles to find her place with a grandmother she has never known and to hold onto a friendship with Sergio, a neighbor twice her age. Sunday. Program 8. Schedule
• Pancho Goes to College
• Writer/Director: Rubén Reyes
• Pancho is looking forward to his new life in college, away from the barrio, his culture, and way of life. But then he meets his new zany roommates, and together, they discover girls, parties, study time, and multi-culturalism on a large Arizona college campus. Friday. Program 1. Schedule

See Alphabetical Listing of Films

View more Festival trailers on YouTube: reelrasquache08

Highlights of RRFF 08

• Click on a picture below to view a film clip. View the full Festival Schedule or view an Alphabetical listing of films.
• Casa Libre/Freedom House
• 
• Muñeca
• 
• The 7
• 
• Alondra Smiles
• 
• 3 Américas
• 
• Pancho Goes to College
• 
• Michele Serros
• 
• Visit Michele Serros' website http://www.muchamichele.com/
• Directors'/ filmmakers' Roundtable Moderated by Franc. Reyes
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A Blast from the Past—Check out the 2007 Reel Rasquache Film & Event Schedule.