Dear Friends, VISIONS OF AZTLAN, a one-hour documentary which I directed and which was produced by my friend and colleague Armando Acevedo, will be premiered at the San Antonio film festival on February 5th! I hope you can attend and pass the word. Saludos, Jesus Treviño

CINEFESTIVAL PREMIERE FEATURES

HOLLYWOOD FILMMAKERS & TEXAS ARTISTS

Texas artists are central to the one-hour documentary that headlines the San Antonio Cinefestival at the Guadalupe Theater on Friday, February 5th. “VISIONS OF AZTLÁN,” a one-hour documentary about the birth of the Chicano Art movement in America, directed by veteran Chicano filmmaker Jesús Salvador Trevino, produced by Armando Acevedo, and featuring original music by Germaine Franco, premieres at the Cinefestival at 7PM. The film chronicles the birth of the Chicano art movement in the 1960s and 1970s and features such Texas-based artists as César Martinez, Santa Barraza, Carmen Lomas Garza and photographer Kathy Vargas. Artists from California, New Mexico and Arizona are also part of the powerful story.

“Before the 1960s, there was virtually no imagery about our Mexican American community on television, in the movies, or in magazines,” explains “Visions of Aztlán” director Jesús Trevino, “and then a generation of Mexican American artists arose, inspired by the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, who began to portray our community, its goals and aspirations, our customs and our lifestyles, through murals, paintings, silkscreens and sculpture.”

Producer Armando Acevedo notes that the artists are now part of the contemporary American art scene. “They created a unique movement that is now recognized internationally for its quality and content. But at the same time, they held up a mirror that reflected our community at a time when we were ignored. That’s the story we try to tell in VISIONS OF AZTLAN,” he says.

The film also celebrates the contributions of 1970s Con Safos art collective, led by San Antonio artist Mel Casas and shaped by participation from other Tejano-inspired artists–José Esquivel, Joe López, Amado Pena, Jesse Trevino, Santa Barraza and Carmen Lomas Garza–that have helped define what we today know as Chicano Art.

The Cinefestival screening is scheduled for 7PM at the Guadalupe Theater, 1300 Guadalupe Avenue, San Antonio. The screening will be followed with a discussion with the film’s director Jesús Trevino, producer Armando Acevedo and music composer Germaine Franco.