by Antonio Mejías-Rentas
MEXICAN-AMERICAN MOVI ES: A TV documentary about the late singer-songwriter Lalo Guerrero opened last week’s fi rst Chicano Film Festival in Mexico City.
The event, organized by the Filmoteca (Cinematheque) at the national university (UNAM), opened Nov. 27 with a screening of Lalo Guerrero: The Original Chicano. The fi lm was directed by Lalo’s son, Dan Guerrero, who attended the festival.
Also at the opening was actor-director Edward James Olmos, whose fi lms Walkout and Alambrista were on the festival’s schedule through Dec. 2.
At a press conference for the festival, Olmos told Mexican media that after a seven-year process, he had recently claimed his Mexican citizenship.
The Los Angeles-born actor, son of a Mexican immigrant, said he is the great grandson of Enrique Flores Magón, an anarchist and social reform activist revered in Mexico.
DUELING DRAMAS: Two highly-anticipated telenovelas, shot in Colombia, premiere this week in the U.S.
Both Telemundo’s Victoria and Univision’s Pasión premiere Dec. 4 and will air Monday through Friday at 9:00 p.m. – the most watched time period in Spanish-language television, according to Nielsen.
Produced by Mexico’s Televisa and shot on locations in Cartagena, Pasión is a historic epic about Caribbean pirates that stars Susana Gonzalez and Fernando Colunga. It replaces Destilando amor, which consistently tops the weekly Nielsen ratings.
Victoria is produced by Telemundo with its Colombian partner RTI. It is a remake of a Colombian telenovela, Seriora Isabel, which was already remade in Mexico as Mirada de mujer. It takes the name of its star, Victoria Ruffo, a top Mexican actress Telemundo lured from Televisa.
IN OTHER TV NEWS: At last week’s ninth Family Television Awards, given by the Family Friendly Programming Forum, América Ferrera was named best actress for ABC’s Ugy Betty.
- A day after being named the champion on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, Brazilian race car driver Helio Castroneves announced he was breaking off his engagement to Miami businesswoman Aliette Vázquez.
Hispanic Link.
