By Marc-Olivier Drouin |Staff Writer|
On Nov. 13, as a part of the International Education Week Symposium, Emmy Award winner Daniel Jacobo presented Cinema & Television Images of the Latino/Latina, a conference about the place of Latinos and Latinas in cinema and TV productions.
Many students were gathered in the Santos Manuel Student Union Theater for the conference.
The conference started with a six minute clip showing various famous scenes of cinema history.
After the video, Jacobo rapidly made it clear to the students that when we talk about cinema in our society, we usually focus on American cinema and ignore the cinema from other cultures.
The speaker put a lot of emphasis on Latin American people in cinema and television. He also highlighted the fact that Latin cinema is full of stereotypes –usually negative stereotypes that are too often associated with Latin culture.
Jacobo explained that Hollywood did not help the reputation of Latin people. In fact, the first Hollywood bad guy was a Latino, which showcasing all the stereotypes of the miserable illegal Mexican immigrant.
Even if Latin cinema often reflects negative images, Jacobo continued the conference by showing and explaining the positive aspect of the cinema and the television of Latinos and Latinas.
“Cinema was invented by a Latino,” Jacobo proudly said while he was explaining Latin roots of Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of the first motion picture camera. A statement that introduced the second part of the conference and surprised many students in the theater.
The speaker showed a part of the movie The Better Man, a movie that shows the journey of a bad Latino guy who becomes a good guy in an attempt to save the life of a little American girl. According to Jacobo, The Better Man is one of the first movies of the century that goes against hurtful Latino stereotypes.
Jacobo also presented movie clips of Rita Hayworth and Anthony Quinn, two important Mexican American actors that Latinos and Latinas should be proud of because of their presence in various American and Latin movies and the fact that they are the first Latin actors to be known world-wide.
The conference concluded on a very inspiring note with the projection of an interview that Jacobo did with Lupita Beltran, the first Latin woman producer of a live Hollywood variety show.
In the interview, Beltran talked about her career, her struggle in the industry of television as a woman and as a Latina, her goals and her successes. She also explained how hard she had to work to become a producer and how important professional relations are in the industry.
As part of the International Education Week Symposium, the Cinema & Television Images of the Latino/Latina conference was all about the importance of cultural diversity in television and cinema.
One of Jacobo’s goals in his presentation was to show that cinema and television productions are not exclusive to the United States. He truly succeeded.