14 Oct Rocking The Abrazos Tour
We are on Week #6, City #21 of The Abrazos Tour. Thanks to all of you who have come out and seen the film larger than life on the big screen. As we introduce the film saying that BORDERLAND | The Line Within shifts the narrative from immigrants as “criminals” to immigrants as heroes, we’re always met with a big round of applause. Our ancestors are the heroes of our family stories, right? The protagonists of our film are the heroes of today.
What has struck us most as the tour continues is how the audiences stay transfixed inside the story of Gabriela Castañeda, Kaxh Mura’l and Alex Gil with the Digital Humanists. After the credits roll, no one leaves the cinema, they stay on and on, questioning, contributing, debating and offering ideas for ways forward. In Tucson, where more than 200 people came to The Loft, people just wouldn’t leave, even after 45 minutes when the theater asked us politely to move to the lobby. Finally the projectionist started the next film, sound up loud, spilling people outside where the discussion continued.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Those whose ancestors were here back when the colonizers arrived, the people who mightily fought then and now to preserve their land and lives in balance, their lineage of resistance, are honored today, Indigenous People’s Day. We offer thoughts on the search for Tiichajil_Good Life in a 4 minute short film, made together with Kaxh Mura’l (Maya-Ixil), Giovanni Batz (Maya-K’iche’) Saba (Navajo Nation-Jemez Pueblo) L’as Chávez (Maya-Ixil) as Saba the artist and his friends imagine an indigenous future.
The Abrazos Tour Continues
The Abrazos Tour continues this week in the Hudson River Valley at the 25th Woodstock Film Festival where we will also be honored with the inaugural Art of Activism Award.
Next week we head to Seattle, WA (Oct. 22 with Q&A) and Bellingham, WA (Oct 23 with Q&A, and Oct. 27) before continuing onto Santa Fe, NM for a weeklong run at the Center for Contemporary Arts, October 25-31 (Q&As on Oct. 25, 26, and 27). Find details and links to tickets here.
We have been incredibly encouraged by the exploding interest in BORDERLAND | The Line Within and know that many of you are not in a city in which The Abrazos Tour is visiting. You can host your own group screening. And we’ll be sharing an exciting announcement about a nationwide screening event soon.
