June 6, 1995 Contact: Jennifer McNulty (408/459-2495)

UC SANTA CRUZ HOSTS FILM FESTIVAL JUNE 25-29 FOCUSING ON DEPICTIONS OF GENDER IN LATIN AMERICAN FILMS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--A 1990 film by the late Argentine director Maria Luisa Bemberg kicks off a public film festival at the University of California, Santa Cruz, that celebrates the first 100 years of cinema with a focus on depictions of gender in Latin American films.

The festival, which runs June 25-29, features seven films, five of which have never before been shown in Santa Cruz. The event brings together an unprecedented sample of works by Latin American women directors, spanning the entire seven decades of sound film production. Screenings will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Oakes 105 at UCSC. Unless otherwise noted, all works are in Spanish with English subtitles. A $3 donation is requested.

In her film I, the Last Woman of All, Bemberg tells the story of Sister Juana Ines de la Cruz, a seventeenth-century Mexican nun considered the most brilliant woman of her age. The film is based on the Nobel prize-winning author Octavio Paz's historical biography The Traps of Faith. "Bemberg is the most important woman filmmaker in Latin American history and the most prolific Latin American director of the last decade. She had a meteoric career," says festival organizer Julianne Burton-Carvajal, a professor of Spanish literature and coordinator of the Latin American and Latino studies program at UCSC. "She made her first film at the age of 59 and completed six features before her death at 73." Bemberg died May 7. Burton-Carvajal calls I, the Last Woman of All Bemberg's "most artistically daring film."

"She chose to shoot the entire film in a studio," says Burton- Carvajal. "Even the outdoor scenes were created. It's a very unusual choice in this day and age, and she did it deliberately because the film is about living under repression. She uses the set design as a functional part of the film. It's an ambitious approach to telling the story of the most important woman in Latin American history."

The festival is presented as part of the Cine-Siglo (Cinema- Century) Conference, a working conference focusing on women directors and cinematic depictions of gender. The conference, which will be held at UCSC's Merrill College June 25-July 1, will bring together faculty, graduate students, and independent researchers from across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, and Brazil. The conference is being sponsored by the Humanities Division, the Center for Cultural Studies, UC Mexus (a binational consortium), and the UC Office of the President.

The film festival schedule follows. For more information, call (408) 459-4560.

Sunday, June 25

I, the Last Woman of All/Yo, la Peor de Todas Maria Luisa Bemberg, Argentina 1990, color; 105 minutes

An audacious re-creation of the life of the seventeenth-century Mexican nun Sister Juana Ines de la Cruz. Introduced by festival and conference organizer Julianne Burton-Carvajal.

Monday, June 26

The Devil Never Sleeps/El Diablo Nunca Duerme Lourdes Portillo, United States/Mexico 1995, color; 86 minutes

This stylish, wry, and thought-provoking documentary investigates the mysterious death in Chihuahua of the Mexican-born filmmaker's favorite uncle. Introduced by filmmaker Lourdes Portillo.

Carmelita Tropicana: Your Kunst is Your Waffen Ela Troyano, United States 1993, color; 30 minutes

A witty documentary on performance artist Carmelita Tropicana.

Tuesday, June 27

Nobody's Woman/Mujer de Nadie Adela Sequeyro, Mexico 1937, black and white; 80 minutes

This recently recovered film is a fantasy about a young woman who takes up residence with four bohemians, each of whom falls in love with her. It was made by Mexico's first woman filmmaker, who also stars in it. Introduced by Patricia Torres San Martin of the University of Guadalajara's Department of Film Studies.

On the Other Side of Death/Mas Alla de la Muerte Adela Sequeyro and Ramon Peon, Mexico 1938, black and white; 80 minutes

Again starring the filmmaker, this tragicomic melodrama features a love triangle involving a Spanish composer and a bullfighter.

Wednesday, June 28 Streetwalker*/Trotacalles* Matilde Landeta, Mexico 1950, black and white; 90 minutes

The only melodrama of prostitution from the Golden Age of Mexican cinema co-scripted and directed by a woman, this work turns the tables on the conventional moralism associated with the genre. Introduced by Susan Dever, assistant professor of media arts at the University of New Mexico, and author of "Matilde Landeta's Mexican Revolution."

*In Spanish; no English subtitles.

Thursday, June 29

Araya Margot Benacerraf, Venezuela 1959, black and white; 90 minutes

A poetic sunrise-to-sunrise observation of the lives of salt-mining families on Venezuela's stark northeastern coast, this stunningly photographed documentary is set on the eve of the families' forced conscription into modernity. Introduced by Karen Schwartzman, curator of the recent retrospective of Venezuelan cinema at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

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