Program Five - Dialogues with Che: Appropriations of a Revolutionary Figure
Images of Ernesto "Che" Guevara are the most contested and reproduced in Latin America, and this program explores ways this iconic figure has been represented. Diálogo con el Che (Dialogue with Che, newly restored) is a legendary film by queer Nuyorican artist José Rodriguez Soltero that parodies Hollywood portrayals of the revolutionary hero. Una foto recorre el mundo (A Photograph Travels the World) by Pedro Chaskel (also known at the editor of The Battle of Chile, 1975) analyzes the iconic photograph of el Che taken by Alberto Korda at a political rally in 1960 and the unending international (and commercial) appropriations of this image. Leandro Katz’ El día que me quieras retraces the story behind the last photographs Freddy Alborta took of Che Guevara as he lay dead, surrounded by his captors, in 1967.
Una foto recorre el mundo (A Photograph Travels the World)
Pedro Chaskel, Cuba, 1981, 13 min., Spanish w/ English subtitles
Diálogo con el Che (Dialogue with Che)
José Rodriguez Soltero, US, 1968, 53 min., b&w
El día que me quieras (The Day You’ll Love Me)
Leandro Katz, Argentina, 1997, 30 min., Spanish w/ English subtitles
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Ism, Ism, Ism: Experimental Cinema in Latin America (Ismo, Ismo, Ismo: Cine experimental en América Latina) was organized by Los Angeles Filmforum as part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, a far-reaching and ambitious exploration of Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles. Ism, Ism, Ism surveys Latin America’s vibrant experimental production from the 1930s through today. www.ismismism.org
Ism, Ism, Ism is accompanied by a bilingual publication, Ism, Ism, Ism / Ismo, Ismo, Ismo: Experimental Cinema in Latin America (Jesse Lerner and Luciano Piazza, editors, University of California Press, 2017) placing Latino and Latin American experimental cinema within a broader dialogue that explores different periods, cultural contexts, image-making models, and considerations of these filmmakers within international cinema. Available worldwide, https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520296084.
This series is presented as part of Subversive Elements, Lightbox’s ongoing spotlight on experimental artists’ cinema.