Author: Gary Alvarez

RACK FOCUS: Stanley Nelson, Director of THE BLACK PANTHERS: VANGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION

RACK FOCUS: SPOTLIGHTING FILMMAKERS Stanley Nelson, Director of THE BLACK PANTHERS—VANGAURD OF THE REVOLOUTION I first heard of the documentary THE BLACK PANTHERS: VANGUARD OF THE REVOLOUTION while at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The film’s synopsis caught my attention as I skimmed down the long list of festival screenings, mostly because of its historical significance (I am a student and was a teacher of American history) as well as its social relevance to what’s goin’ on in our country today, namely the countless killings of unarmed black men, women and teenagers by police. It seemed to me that...

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RACK FOCUS: SPOTLIGHTING BREAKTHROUGH FILMMAKERS

Jeremy Royce, director of 20 YEARS OF MADNESS, premiering his documentary at the 2015 Slamdance Festival Jeremy Royce: Director, 20 YEARS OF MADNESS                     by Gary Alvarez Contributing Writer   Park City, Utah—Main Street I’m here as a writer covering the 2015 Sundance Film Festival for Landscape Latino and get invited to interview a filmmaker who is premiering at the 2015 Slamdance Film Festival, across the street from Sundance. My initial response is “Fuck Slamdance. They rejected my film into their festival last month. Why should I do them a...

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RACK FOCUS: Spotlighting Breakthrough Filmmakers

Tania Claudia Castillo, Writer/Director of PRIMAVERA (“SPRING”) by Gary Alvarez Contributing Writer Park City, Utah—Sundance 2015 The time is nearing 11pm and I’m sleep-deprived after driving into daybreak this morning from Los Angeles to Utah on the first night of the Sundance Film Festival. Our coverage crew can’t check into our hotel room till later in the afternoon so we push through the day and my eyes are stinging when I begin hearing voices speaking in Spanish on the second floor of the Marriott Hotel where the last string of reporters and filmmakers mix before crashing out. One of...

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RACK FOCUS: Spotlighting Breakthrough Filmmakers

Ericka Concha, Film Editor: IN FOOTBALL WE TRUST by Gary Alvarez Contributing Writer “You’re living the dream” Ericka Concha reminds me after a 5-minute rant—me bitching about the lack of sleep, shit food, budgets, deadlines, etc. that characterized those first days of film school, where our creative paths crossed for a second time. She was in her second year of the MFA program at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film, so she was already used to the exhausting routine and simply putting things into perspective. That goes hand in hand with her job as a film editor: to paint the bigger picture. Five...

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