EL CANTANTE – the movie

The Forum, , , , , , , , , ,

Don’t waste your money! Don’t waste your time! This movie was no movie at all. I felt assaulted and disrespected.

Let me tell you what it was. It was one dragged out drug-ologue. Every other scene was about him doing drugs. EVERY other scene! There was no storyline whatsoever.

“I love you Pucchi” “I love you Hector” Why? Was there one scene that showed “love” or why they loved each other? No.

Why was he famous? I don’t know. I know my Mom used to play his music. That’s all I know.  That he filled up Madison Square Garden. Oh I think I saw that in a quick clip in the movie between him snorting and him shooting up.

That him and Willie Colon were friends? I guess.  All the movie showed was Willie Colon in the background in almost every scene. Why were they friends? How did they meet?

How did Hecor LaVoe become famous anyway?  Wouldn’t know from watching the movie. His first hit? Don’t know. It wasn’t in the movie. It was more important to show 3 scenes of him in the bathroom half comatose.

What was his contribution to Salsa? My Mom says he was one of the pioneers of Salsa. Really? No mention of that in the movie AT ALL.

For those that say, “But that was his life… if that’s what he was, then…” Please! He was so much more than drugs. When people packed Madison Square Garden, did they go to see him get high or did they go for his music?

StatCounter - Free Web Tracker and Counter

Where was the music in the movie? A few clips here and there. Him rushing on the stage – stoned and belting it out. That’s it. “Tu Amor es un Peridico de Ayer” Never played that song. How is that possible?

The song “Yo Soy El Cantante” That song should have been the triumphant culmination of the movie. Instead you feel like noooooooo. You’re just depressed by the time they get around to that song. Ruben Blades wrote the song for Hector LaVoe and in the movie he dedicates the song to “his friend” LaVoe who of course is by the bar. As Ruben Blades starts singing it, LaVoe, turns around and looks toward the stage like – Wow! What a great song! Should I take that to mean that he had a moment of soberness.

Latinos have enough drug addicts on mainstream media. We don’t need to portray ourselves in such denegration. You don’t see red-blooded Americans saying “Elvis Presley – the King – the drug addict. Wasn’t he the biggest druggie? No. We just hear about his rock and roll music, how he changed music forever, and that’s what made him KING. Not the drugs, not that he died on the freakin’ toilet bowl. (Read the bios of both LaVoe and Presley on wikipedia and see what I’m talking about.  Elvis was the KING. La Voe was strung out.)

Meanwhile, Jennifer Lopez with her fame and fortune could have done right by her people and given us someone to look up to. Now every time we hear, LaVoe’s version of the Puerto Rican “anthem”, “Que Cante Mi Gente ” or “Yo Naci en Puerto Rico“ all we can do is cringe.

Thanks Señora Lopez. Thanks a lot.  You also did a disgrace to your husband who is I dare say: the “Hector Lavoe” of our time. But now how can I compare if all Lavoe was an addict? But anyway, Marc Anthony has been struggling to act now for years. First he is type cast as a s p i c, gangster, drug dealer, and now you just officially graduated him to play the role of a junkie.

For those that say, “Hey she’s just trying to make money and that’s the bottom line.” If she wanted to make a quick buck you either cater to mainstream white America, or you give us a movie to be proud of. After all, WHO went to see that movie anyway? There was a line all the way around the Whitestone Multiplex in the Bronx. Was there a line at the Beverly Hills Multiplex? I didn’t think so. It was hard enough getting my Dominican friends to go. There’s no way a white person is going to say, “Let me see L Con-Ton-Tay. Not going to happen.

The movie starts off with “Nuyorican Productions”. Here I am feeling proud! Damn it! Don’t be putting my race all up on the face of Drugland.

J-Lo, ¡no sea tan tonta! It’s like someone making a movie about you 20 years from now and only talk about your mistakes. Never mentioning that you were the highest paid Latina in Hollywood. Never saying that you had a top selling movie and top-selling CD at the same time. Never saying anything except about all your failed relationships. How would you like that?!

Jenny, M’hija, ¡¿qué hicistes?

Fourth Annual Arts Festival, Saturday, August 18th

The Forum, , ,

Join the Cultural Affairs Committee of Community Board 11 and the Office of NYS Senator José M. Serrano in “Celebrating East Harlem’s Culture and Legacy,” during the Fourth Annual Arts Festival. The event will be held on Saturday, August 18th along Julia de Burgos Boulevard/East 106th Street, and is free and open to the general public. Call (212) 831-8929 for details.

GO GREEN EAST HARLEM! Farmers Market

The Forum, , ,

On Saturday, July 22, 2007, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer attended the launch of the East 106th Street Farmers Market. The outdoor fresh fruit and vegetable market is part of the Go Green East Harlem Initiative spearheaded by the Manhattan Borough President’s Office with the concerted efforts of the political leadership of the district and several community organizations and individuals. PRdream covered the opening.

New York International Film Festival

The Forum, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

From: NYFILMITNDIS@aol.com
To: reynolis@hotmail.com,alam778@hotmail.com
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!
Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 18:31:59 EDT

NYIIFVF
505 E. Windmill Lane Suite 1-b
Las Vegas, Nevada 89123
Phone 702 882 3109 Fax 702 696-1653
E-mail Address: Nyfilmitndis@aol.com
Executive Director: Stuart Alson
Las Vegas Office
Director of the West Coast: Frank Munoz
Las Vegas Office

NEW YORK, LOS ANGELES, MIAMI, LAS VEGAS, AUSTRALIA, ENGLAND & CANNES
New York July 19-26, 2007

Dear Filmmaker, Juan Shamsul Alam
CONGRATULATIONS! We are delighted that your film “Once Upon A Time En El Barrio” has been officially selected for exhibition in the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival 2007 We will be organizing a fantastic event featuring films and videos from around the world, including Canada, Australia,

France, China, India, Brazil, Ireland, England and of course, all over the U.S. Please call Frank Munoz to confirm you have received

this at 702-882-3109  Additional information, your VIP passes, etc. will be mailed to you before the festival. INDUSTRY/PRESS/OPENING NIGHT: July 19, 2007

New York July 19-26, 2007

New York Screenings: Village East Cinemas 181 2nd Ave at 12th St.

Clearview Cinemas 239 East 59th St between 2nd and 3rd Ave.
TICKETS: As soon as you have been given your schedule time and location, advance ticket sales can be made by calling Ticket Web directly at (866) 468-7619 or you can order them online at www.nyfilmvideo.com  For “Once Upon A Time En El Barrio”
Screenings are free during the day Monday-Friday 12-6pm
and $10 Monday-Friday 6-12pm and Saturday and Sunday.

www.onceuponatimeenelbarrio.com

you can see the trailer of a great film

THE PROBLEM WITH “WAR” RAGES ON

The Forum, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Will the FCC make an issue of ‘War’ language?

Two months before the premiere of Ken Burns’ series,

“The War,” PBS CEO Paula Kerger still isn’t sure
By Ellen Gray

Philadelphia Daily News (July 12, 2007)

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif – Though Kerger yesterday told the Television Critics Association that PBS would offer its affiliates unexpurgated and edited versions of the World War II series, she said she doesn’t know yet how many stations would carry the edited version.

“I thought . . . that there would be more clarity” from the Federal Communications Commission by now about the use of certain language on broadcast TV (specifically, a word that’s already gotten a pass during airings of “Saving Private Ryan” from an FCC whose makeup – and agenda – has changed since then).

“We got a lot of coverage of this documentary because it has four words in it – four out of 14 1/2 hours,” she said, noting that two of those are used to explain the origins of “snafu” and “FUBAR.”

Though the issue drew headlines at the TCA’s winter meetings six months ago and still matters to many PBS affiliates, some of which could be crippled by an adverse FCC ruling and the accompanying fines, “that seems like the quaint old days,” the PBS executive acknowledged.

That’s because of pressure brought in the interim by Hispanic groups who were upset that Burns had not singled out the experience of Latino soldiers in his examination of World War II from the perspective of four American cities and towns: Sacramento, Calif; Waterbury, Conn; Mobile, Ala.; and Luverne, Minn.

In questioning Kerger, and later Burns, critics and reporters here, usually quick to lambaste networks on diversity issues, displayed little sympathy for the groups raising this particular one.

Admittedly, none of us – and none of Burns’ critics – has yet seen the final version of “The War,” which will incorporate some interviews and material he agreed to add at what in documentary terms could be considered the 11th hour.

Kerger was a bit vague on just what’s entailed, Burns a little less so.

“We’ve produced some new material and included it at the end of three of the episodes that doesn’t alter” what was largely completed more than a year ago, he said.

The added material, which will also include a Native American narrative, will run at the ends of episodes 1, 5 and 6, before the credits, Burns said.

It will add 28 to 29 minutes to the total length.

“It was, of course, painful to us on one level” that his work was being misinterpreted, “but we didn’t have the luxury” of arguing for too long, Burns said, reminding reporters that World War II veterans are dying at the rate of about 1,000 a day.

Noting that Hispanics in America are “a group of people who for 500 years have had their story untold,” he said, “We’ve done more than we were asked and were expected to . . . honoring our own interest in doing this right.”

Asked if he expected that to be enough to satisfy his critics, he replied, “There are a lot of different people with a lot of different agendas and a lot of concerns.”

Rather than try to address all of them, he said, the filmmakers “tried to hear . . . the larger question, and that’s what we tried to respond to.”

Court win fuels Puerto Rican citizenship debate – article from the Right

The Forum, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Note: See the very end of this article about former Secretary of State Norma Burgos’ “Puerto Rican citizenship.” What are the implications of this for the right of Stateside Puerto Ricans being able to vote in a plebiscite on the political status of Puerto Rico? Interesting.

—Angelo

PUERTO RICO

Court win fuels Puerto Rican citizenship debate

After a long battle, the elder statesman of Puerto Rico’s independence movement finally has what he wanted: citizenship

BY FRANCES ROBLES

Miami Herald (July 14, 2007)

MAYAGUEZ, Puerto Rico — The seeds of Juan Mari Brás’ quixotic patriotism were planted when his parents draped a Puerto Rican flag over his crib.

Those seeds flourished 13 years ago, when the elder statesman of Puerto Rico’s independence movement renounced his U.S. citizenship in an effort to be officially recognized as a Puerto Rican. He’s 79 now, and after a 60-year anti-colonial crusade, he has something new to adorn his surroundings: a certificate of Puerto Rican citizenship.

He is the first Puerto Rican in history to have one. And as the U.S. Congress considers Puerto Rico’s status, Mari Brás’ newfound and hard-fought citizenship has refueled the heated debate about what it means to be Puerto Rican.

The certificate was issued in October after Mari Brás successfully sued for the right to vote in local elections. Last month, the Secretary of State’s Office here offered citizenship to eligible islanders. About 450 have requested certificates, and legislators are drafting bills to codify the process of obtaining them.

The tangible value of the certificates is in doubt, even among some of Marí Brás followers.

”With this certificate, can I travel from here to some other country?” asked independence party legislator Víctor García San Inocencio. “When I come back, will Homeland Security let me in?” The answers: no and no.

For Mari Brás, the citizenship certificate is more legal test than meaningful evidence of nationality. He said his win is important because it marks the first time the government here has recognized a national identity not tied to the United States. But he shrugs off the significance of his long court battle, recognizing that while it may have been the most important achievement Puerto Rico’s tiny independence movement has seen in years, it is a far cry from the sovereignty he craves.

”Biologists experiment with plants and animals and chemists do so with elements,” he said in a recent interview at his office at the Eugenio María de Hostos Law School in Mayagüez. “Since I am a lawyer, I experiment with the law. The certificate is an achievement, but it’s not the independence of Puerto Rico.”

When Mari Brás was born to a deeply political Mayagüez family, the U.S. military had seized Puerto Rico from Spain barely 30 years earlier. People like nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos were frequent dinner guests at his uncle’s house next door.

”Back then, we thought independence would happen the day after next,” he said. “We never thought we would remain the most important colony of the most important empire.”

His father took him to political events, and he founded an independence movement in high school. It became a passion that got him jailed seven times, kicked out of law school and a heart attack at 36.

Mari Brás graduated from American University Law School in Washington. As a lawyer, he took on controversial cases such as the independence activists who opened fire on the U.S. House of Representatives. He founded the Puerto Rican Socialist Party and ran a spirited campaign for governor in 1976 until his son was murdered, a death Mari Brás blames on the CIA.

A Marxist with close ties to Havana, he was disbarred from practicing in federal court when he skipped a client’s appearance to attend a conference in Cuba.

But after decades of sometimes violent activism, even now the independence movement gets only about 4 percent of the popular vote. The vast majority of Puerto Rico’s 4 million people are split between wanting to become the 51st state and keeping some form of its current commonwealth status.

In a mission to prove Puerto Ricans had a separate national identity, Mari Brás in 1994 went to the American embassy in Caracas and renounced his U.S. citizenship. When he returned to Puerto Rico, a local statehood activist sued him, arguing that Mari Brás no longer had a right to vote in local elections. Puerto Rico’s electoral law says that only U.S. citizens can cast ballots.

”I wanted to see if in Puerto Rico you could continue breathing without being a U.S. citizen,” he said.

The case made the Puerto Rican Supreme Court, and, last fall, Mari Brás won.

”It’s extraordinary,” said Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a New York group that has represented Puerto Rico’s independence activists. “He has been after this for 30 or 40 years. The next step is people will demand passports. What other things can flow from there?”

The Popular Democratic Party, which seeks more autonomy for Puerto Rico while keeping the island’s current relationship with the United States, agrees.

”An empty wallet does not have everything a full wallet has,” said legislator Charlie Hernández, who has submitted a bill to codify the citizenship process.

Puerto Rico’s New Progressive Party (PNP), which supports statehood, is vehemently against the citizenship plan, calling it a useless and illegal residency certificate. It also alleges that current Secretary of State Fernando Bonilla, of the ruling Popular Democratic Party, agreed to go along with it in order to attract votes within the independence movement.

In a statement, Bonilla said he offered the certificate to obey the constitution and the court decision. He stressed that it doesn’t replace the U.S. passport.

‘I understand Juan Mari Brás’ purpose and respect it, but Puerto Rican citizenship does not exist,” said PNP Sen. Norma Burgos, a former secretary of state who once denied Mari Brás’ petition for citizenship.

To prove her point, Burgos, who was born in Chicago and moved to Puerto Rico when she was 5, asked for citizenship. Under rules that the Secretary of State drafted after Mari Brás’ court victory, she did not qualify.

”Was the Secretary of State going to tell me, Norma Burgos, ex-secretary of state, ex-lieutenant governor, and sitting senator, that I am not Puerto Rican?” she said.

Bonilla redrafted the requirements to include Burgos — and lots of other people. Now, if you live in Puerto Rico and one of your parents was born here, you qualify. U.S. citizens who have lived here more than a year are also eligible.

NILP 3
National Institute for Latino Policy
101 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 313
New York, NY 10013

www.latinopolicy.org
Angelo Falcón, President and Founder
212-334-5722 Fax: 917-677-8593
afalcon@latinopolicy.org

UMEZ AWARDS LANDMARK GRANT TO EL MUSEO DEL BARRIO

The Forum, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

UMEZ AWARDS LANDMARK GRANT TO EL MUSEO DEL BARRIO

$2 million grant is largest in museum’s 40 year history

New York, NY – Yesterday, Congressman Charles B. Rangel, joined by Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito, Luis Miranda, a member of the Board of Directors of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corp., (UMEZ), and Julián Zugazagoitia, Director of El Museo del Barrio, announced today that the organization has awarded the museum a $2 million grant to implement a strategic plan that will complement renovations to the museum that are currently underway.

The announcement was made during Summer Nights at El Museo Del Barrio’s 2007 concert series at Teatro Heckscher, with Tito Puente, Jr. as the evening’s performer.

El Museo del Barrio was founded in 1969 by artist-educator Raphael Montañez Ortiz in response to the interest of Puerto Rican parents, educators, artists and community activists in East Harlem’s Spanish-speaking El Barrio, the neighborhood that extends from 96th Street to the Harlem River and from Fifth Avenue to the East River on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The contexts of El Museo’s founding were the national civil rights movement and, in the New York City art world, the campaign that called for major art institutions to decentralize their collections and to represent a variety of non-European cultures in their collections and programs.

El Museo del Barrio is among the leading Latino and Latin American cultural institutions in the nation. The New York Times recently characterized El Museo as “the first stop on Museum Mile,” an institution offering “some of the most beautiful and disquieting art there is.” One of only a handful of Latino museums in the United States with a permanent collection, El Museo maintains the most comprehensive collection in the eastern region and one of the most varied in the country.

The Museum recently embarked on a long-term, multi-million dollar capacity-building program, the “Re-Envisioning of El Museo.” It consists of a five-year strategic plan and institution-wide programmatic expansion, for which El Museo has already raised a substantial amount of leveraged funds. At the same time, the Museum is undergoing a physical transformation through a $20 million capital renovation project.

UMEZ helped El Museo lay the foundation for organizational development and expansion by providing the Museum a technical assistance award of up to $50,000 to complete a strategic plan. The plan addresses the Museum’s programming, educational offerings, community engagement, theater programs, membership program, and governance and board development. Full strategic plan implementation will require $5.5 million in funding. The Museum had already secured over $2 million toward project costs prior to the $2 million, three-year UMEZ investment.

As a result of UMEZ’s three-year investment in strategic plan implementation, the Museum will create ten new jobs, deepen its relationships in its founding community, increase its earned income, and establish its first formal marketing and communications department. A re-invigorated El Museo will serve as a driving force in revitalizing cultural tourism in the East Harlem community and help brand el barrio as ‘the center of Latino culture and a tourist destination.’

Mr. Miranda, who chairs UMEZ’s Cultural Industry Investment Fund (CIIF), said, “The history of El Museo del Barrio is not only inextricably
linked to the history of the East Harlem community, it is also linked to the history of our great City. Through its many outstanding exhibitions and programs, this unique museum has helped to enlighten the world in so many, many ways. That’s why we at UMEZ are pleased and proud to be able to provide financial support to this fine institution.”

“It is an honor for El Museo to accept this $2 million as it represents the largest grant ever received in our 40-year history,” said Mr. Zugazagoitia. “This funding from UMEZ marks an investment in El Museo and El Barrio at this transformative time for both our community and our institution, and will ensure that the museum will continue to excel in providing the best in Latino cultural resources to New York
City.”

Over the past two years, UMEZ has approved investments in East Harlem Business Capital Corporation, Taller Boricua, Art For Change, La Fonda Boricua, PR Dream, and East River Plaza. The East River Plaza investment, which totaled $55 million, is the largest single investment in UMEZ history.

UMEZ believes that investments in East Harlem will have a positive impact throughout upper Manhattan in terms of its economic impact, the creation of jobs and improvements to its infrastructure.

ABOUT THE Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone DEVELOPMENT CORP.

UMEZ seeks to revitalize distressed communities by using geographically targeted public funds and tax incentives as catalysts for private investment. In Upper Manhattan, the communities that lie within the Empowerment Zone’s borders include Harlem, East Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood.

ABOUT THE CULTURAL INDUSTRY INVESTMENT FUND

UMEZ’s CIIF celebrates Upper Manhattan’s rich past while creating new legacies. The work of the CIIF is two-fold: community building through a cultural and economic lens; and, a marketing of place that repositions Upper Manhattan as one of New York City’s primary cultural districts. The goals of the CIIF are sustaining the local economy by promoting development, revitalization and tourism; making strategic cultural investments; and, strengthening the cultural ecosystem.

The CIIF provides support to cultural organizations that use the arts as a tool for economic development, job creation and growth of cultural tourism, within the five communities of Upper Manhattan. Primary means of support include funding and provision of technical assistance.

OUR WOMEN, OUR STRUGGLE by Melissa Montero

The Forum, , , , ,

PLEASE FORWARD!!!

Hello Community:

As some of you may know, I, Melissa Montero have been working on my documentary: Our Women, Our Struggle for the past three and a half years. It’s really been a great opportunity to work on such a powerful project. It’s a work of love.

At the moment I am raising funds to continue production in August and for the next few months ahead. I am reaching out to as many sources as I can such as grants, foundations, and private donors.

I am asking you to help this year by giving a donation to Our Women, Our Struggle. If you are interested in donating you can personally reach me at zoemontero@hotmail.com or melissa@ourwomenourstruggle.com.

To view my trailer pls go to www.myspace.com/melissazm or
www.ourwomenourstruggle.com

Our Women Our Struggle Trailer

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Brief Synopsis:
Our Women, Our Struggle (working title) is a compelling hour-long documentary that chronicles the lives of three Puerto Rican revolutionary women – Isabel Rosado, Lolita Lebron, and Dylcia Pagan — who dedicated their lives to the Puerto Rican Independence movement and as a result were subjected to FBI surveillance and each spent many years in prison. The women will speak about their persecution and involvement in the historical struggle for Puerto Rican Independence on the island and in the Diaspora.

Collectively, these three women served over 50 years in federal prison as a consequence of their radical political activism. Doña Isabel Rosado was sentenced to 17 years in prison, serving thirteen. Doña Lolita Lebron was first sentenced to death but later the sentence was changed to 56 years. She served 25 years in prison. Doña Dylcia Pagan was sentenced to 55 years and served 19. They take us through seven decades of struggle.

Our Women, Our Struggle will give the women a voice to speak about their persecution and involvement in the historical struggle for Puerto Rican Independence on the island and in the Diaspora. This documentary will also include interviews with secondary subjects who will add to our understanding of Puerto Rican History, the community at that time, the role of these women, and the U.S. approach to dissidents.

If you require additional information about Our Women, Our Struggle, please contact me and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. You may also visit www.ourwomenourstruggle.com for more details about the documentary.

I thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to whatever support you can provide. I couldn’t do it without the generosity of donors like yourself.

Thank you,

Melissa Montero

Film Festival July 21 and 24

The Forum, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Juan Shamsul

New York Screenings
Village East Cinemas
181 2nd Ave at 12th St.
New York City
You can order tickets ($12.00) at nyfilmvideo.com.

This Brother has two films in this festival. 

“Once Upon a Time En El Barrio” (37 minutes)
Saturday, July 21 @ 4:00 pm
Director and Writer Juan Shamsul Alam
Genre Documentary
The story revolves around Lolita Lebron, A Nationalist Puerto Rican who with five men went to Washington DC. And shot up the house of congress in March of 1954.
Actors: Angel Caban, Ana Reynos and Emilio Rosa.
Co-Stars: Anibal O’lleras, Angel Ramirez Jr., Santo Alam, Dania Brache, Eddie Rivera and Angelino Rodriguez

“Purple Paradise” (78 minutes)
Tuesday, July 24 @ 4:00 pm.
Genre Drama/Mystery
Writer Juan Shamsul Alam/R. Bobby Persad
A Man escapes from Prison and ends up in a bar with strange characters. Out of Hell.
Starring Ron Randle, R. Bobby Persad, Carolyn Demares and Santo Alam as Poncho.

We urge the community to come out and support these films.  Palante Juan Shamsul !!!!!

Suave