Monday, April 29, 2013

Report: Screening of LATINOS BEYOND REEL: CHALLENGING A MEDIA STEREOTYPE and Town Hall-Style Panel Discussion

On Sunday, April 28, 2013, the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA) and the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) hosted a screening of the documentary Latinos Beyond Reel: Challenging a Media Stereotype (produced by Edwin Pagán, Ronelle Rodríguez Torres and Lorena Manríquez and directed by Miguel Picker and Chyng Sun). The screening took place at the Museum of the Moving Image in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens.

Following the screening was a town hall-style panel discussion moderated by director-producer Warrington Hudlin. The panelists consisted of director-cinematographer-composer Miguel Picker, actress Liza Colón-Zayas, actor/producer Julia Ahumada Grob, NALIP chair María Agui Carter and cinematographer-producer Edwin Pagán.

The discussion, which got lively at times, started with moderator Hudlin acting as an agent provocateur. He also emphasized not rehashing the problems with Latinos and identity and the problem of stereotyping (which was specifically expressed in the documentary) and instead suggestions of potential solutions.


Among the many speakers at the town hall-style discussion included an employee of Fox News (who was soon to be leaving his job), a South African national (who mentioned that similar issues are still happening in her countries) and an Asian American actress (who mentioned the similarities between Latino and Asian American actors when it came to looking for roles).

After the discussion, people hung out in the museum lobby, and later, in front of the museum to continue the discussion, which was the intention of the filmmakers regarding the documentary, to elicit and continue the discourse in the hopes that it can effect a change.


HOLA would like to thank NALIP, David Schwartz (chief curator) and the staff of the Museum of the Moving Image, the filmmakers, the moderator, panelists and all those in attendance for helping make the event a great success.

For more information on the documentary, click here or click below to see its trailer.



All photographs in this blog are by Anthony Ruiz/ARuiz Photography. To see more photos, click here.

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