Friday, April 17, 2015

Sobredosis de TV: The Movement is Mightier than the Sword

Sobredosis de TV is our occasional feature where we highlight television programs. It is also the name of a song from famed Argentine rock band Soda Stereo.

The fourth season of the PBS documentary series “Voces” commences tonight with a film on the 1955 movie “Giant.” “Children of Giant” will examine how the film that starred Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean affected the Texan town of Marfa, where it was shot, and was one of the first major Hollywood movies to delve into the racial divide between whites and Mexican-Americans in the Southwest U.S.

Future episodes will look at the experiences of five Latina actresses who are behind the dubbing of the Spanish-language version of “Desperate Housewives” as well as the crusading work of Mexican peace activist Javier Sicilia.

The writer and post began his anti-violence campaign shortly after his son, Juan Francisco, was murdered by narcotraffickers in 2011. Sicilia gave up poetry and founded the Movement for Peace and Dignity campaign to denounce drug-related violence in Mexico.

“What my son did was give a name and a face to the 40,000 dead,” Sicilia said in a May 2011 interview. “My pain gave a face to the pain of other families. I think a country is like a house, and the destruction of someone is the destruction of our families.”

Sicilia has not shied from strongly criticizing the Mexican government and the country’s political class for supporting what he believes has done little to effectively combat violence, and expressed his solidarity with the families of the forty-three missing Ayotzinapa students. Last month he called for voters to abstain from upcoming local elections as an “act of civil disobedience against the treason, deception and crimes” by politicians.

Below the page break is the long trailer from “El Poeta,” which follows Sicilia and his caravans that have crisscrossed Mexico and travelled to the U.S.  This film premieres on PBS on May 1st (check your local listings for exact times of these and all of the future episodes of “Voces”.)


Online Sources (English) – PBS, New York Times
 

Online Source (Spanish) – Milenio.com
 

YouTube Source – user VOCESMedia

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