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 NALIP Annual Conference - Register Now!
NALIP brings you our Ninth National Conference very soon. Sin Limites: Trends in Pan Latino CInema is a weekend of showcases and discussions that you won't want to miss. Sign up NOW to take advantage of the Early Bird Rates, plus the special program. Co-chair Elaine Romero says, "our national conference every year is a wild ride for Latino filmmakers. It's kind of like, get your business cards ready because you cannot network fast enough. NALIP gives Latino filmmakers and content producers the lift they need to soar quickly to higher levels in their professional work. Our programs instantaneously connect top leaders in the film and television industry with NALIP members at all stages of their careers. One of the most exciting things that happens at the Conference is that people find their teams, their future collaborators. Matches are made. Projects are born. NALIP stands by year-round like the mid-wife! The help does not end at the end of the Conference."
For a complete list of additional speakers, panels and keynotes please visit www.nalip.org/conference2008/
 Hecho en L.A.
Opinion by NALIP Executive Committee member Frances Negrón-Muntaner
Desde su estreno en junio de este año, el documental “Hecho en Los Angeles” de la cineasta Almudena Carracedo ha recorrido el mundo. Recientemente, tuvo varias presentaciones en Nueva York, incluyendo una en el Tenement Museum del Lower East Side. Y a partir de este mes, se puede obtener en DVD. Ya no hay excusa para dejar de verlo.
Para aquéllos que no han oído sobre el filme, éste cuenta la historia de tres trabajadoras de la aguja, Lupe Hernández, María Pineda, y Maura Colorado. Junto a otros trabajadores y líderes comunitarios de Los Angeles, Lupe, María y Maura se organizan para exigirle a la tienda de ropa Forever 21 que le garantice el salario mínimo, la jornada de ocho horas, y el trato digno en la fábrica.
Como debe ser, gran parte del filme se dedica a la impresionante lucha de tres años que culmina en una victoria legal y moral para los trabajadores. Pero el alma de la película es la transformación de cada una de las mujeres, quiénes, paso a paso, descubren que sus vidas tienen valor y que merecen vivir mejor.
Lo que entonces está “hecho en Los Angeles” no es tan sólo la ropa; ni tan siquiera la victoria laboral. Es más bien una manera nueva de ver y verse en el mundo. Por eso es que cuando las trabajadoras piquetean la casa del dueño de Forever 21, María insiste que el objetivo es que “nos vea” y que sepa “quienes somos". Por eso además es que cuando Maura ve una hoja suelta con una foto suya, se mira casi como si fuera otra persona y sonríe mientras afirma: “Esa soy yo”.
Por eso también es que Lupe, quien a través de todo el documental nos hace saber que se siente más bien “feíta” (razón por la cual prefiere pasar más horas maquillándose que durmiendo), en los últimos minutos del filme, luce radiante, hermosa, como si hubiese finalmente internalizado algo que antes no se creía del todo: “Lo que tengas, agárralo. De algo tan malo te puede salir una obra de arte”. Y en este caso así fue, tanto para las protagonistas de la batalla como para la directora que a todas ellas retrata.
Frances Negrón-Muntaner es escritora y cineasta. Enseña en la Universidad de Columbia.
(from El Diario La Prensa, 12/19/07)
 Scholarships Available Through the Hispanic College Fund
Scholarship applications for the 2008-2009 academic year are available online at http://www.HispanicFund.org. Scholarship amounts range from $500 - $10,000 and are for one-year only. All scholarship recipients must re-apply each year. The average scholarship awarded is $3,000.
Applications are ONLINE and require an essay, resumé and letter of recommendation. We do not accept any paper applications. Deadlines for our scholarships vary from February 1st, 2008 to March 15th, 2008.
The Hispanic College Fund offers several scholarships through its scholarship program. You must plan to attend a college or a university as a full-time student for the entire academic year in order to be eligible for a Hispanic College Fund scholarship. Only students who are U.S. citizen or permanent resident residing in the United States or Puerto Rico and have a minimum GPA of 3.0 are eligible.
In 2007 the Hispanic College Fund awarded over $1.8 million in scholarships to 615 students.
To learn more go to http://www.HispanicFund.org and begin your application!
Join our listserv at http://listserv.fsl.com/mailman/listinfo/students to hear about other outside scholarship and internship opportunities.
 Call for Entries: 30th Annual CineFestival
The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, one of the nation’s premier Latino arts institutions, presents the 30th Annual CineFestival en San Antonio – the oldest running international film festival in North America. CineFestival is an important regional forum for screening representative film works that encourage discussion and critique of contemporary and historical issues – sociological, economic, artistic, public and private. Parallel panels, workshops, retrospectives and sidebar programs offer timely perspectives on these issues. Eligible entries must have been produced between October, 2006 - April, 2008 and have direct relevance to the Chicano / Latino / Indigenous community.
For more information and the entry form, visit www.cinefestivalsa.org
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