ASU hosts community screening of award-winning Latino documentary series

Arizona State University’s Comparative Border Studies initiative will screen the Latino documentary films “Prejudice & Pride” and “War and Peace” at its community fall film event November 5 and 6.  Film creator John J. Valadez will be on hand at both free public events to discuss the films with the audience.

 “John Valadez is a distinguished filmmaker participating in the first major documentary series focused on Latino contributions to U.S. history in over two decades,” said Matthew Garcia, director of Comparative Border Studies. “His film, ‘War and Peace,’ is a major correction to recent treatments of our military history that suggest Mexican Americans and others of Latin American descent played a minor role in WWII. We are proud to host this major filmmaker in the Valley.”

“Prejudice & Pride” will be screened at 6 p.m. November 5 at the Marston Exploration Theatre on ASU’s Tempe campus. The film tells the story of the long Mexican-American march toward equality during the 1960s and 1970s and creation of the Chicano identity. Attendees should RSVP at http://borders.asu.edu/film-event.

 “War & Peace” will be screened at 7 p.m. November 6 at Phoenix Art Museum in downtown Phoenix. The film tells the story of Mexican Americans and Latinos during World War II and its aftermath as they battle both fascism abroad and discrimination at home. Attendees should RSVP at http://borders.asu.edu/film-event.

 John J. Valadez lives in New York and has been writing, producing and directing award winning, nationally broadcast documentaries for PBS and CNN for the past 18 years – most recently his “Latino Americans” series for PBS. He is a Rockefeller Fellow, has twice been a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow and is a graduate of the CPB/PBS Producers Academy at WGBH in Boston.

 Valadez regularly screens his films and lectures at universities across the United States. A member of the Writers Guild of America East, he also is a founding member of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) where he mentors emerging filmmakers at the annual NALIP Producer’s Academy in Santa Fe, N.M. Valadez graduated from the film program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

 Comparative Border Studies, within the School of Transborder Studies, is a strategic research initiative designed to bring scholars, artists and publics together to discuss and debate issues pertaining to geopolitical and cultural borders. For more information, contact Elizabeth Cantú at (979) 492-7502 or Elizabeth.Cantu@asu.edu. Or visit borders.asu.edu.