Mexican comedian Roberto Gomez Bolanos poses for a photo as his famous character El Chavo del Ocho. (AP)

Carolina A. Miranda @ LOS ANGELES TIMES

It is difficult to overstate the influence that Roberto Gómez Bolaños had on the childhoods of Spanish-speakers all over the globe.

Even viewers of "The Simpsons" owe a debt of gratitude to Gómez: Without his goofy superhero comedy "El Chapulin Colorado" ("The Crimson Grasshopper"), there would be no Bumblebee Man.

Last Friday's news of the death of Gómez — more commonly known by his nickname, "Chespirito" — generated an outpouring of mourning. Murals began materializing in Latin American cities. A South American news anchor teared up as she delivered the news. The Peruvian congress observed a moment of silence. And the Mexican president tweeted condolences — as did such entertainers as the rock band Molotov and pop singer Paulina Rubio.

I grew up watching "El Chapulin Colorado" and Gómez's other beloved children's show, "El Chavo del Ocho" ("The Kid at No. Eight"), as reruns here in the U.S. on Spanish-language networks and on South American TV during visits with family in Chile and Peru. One Halloween, I dressed up as Chilindrina, El Chavo's boisterous, pig-tailed sidekick. To this day, if something has spilled or some other disaster has unfurled, I turn to the words of El Chavo: "Se me chispoteó," roughly, "I messed up." It's not just me. The saying is now part of the language.

The last time I saw "El Chavo del Ocho" was a couple years back at a bar in Lima, Peru. This wasn't exactly the setting you'd imagine watching a 1970s children's TV show. The show was a slapstick sendup of the misadventures of an orphaned boy who hides out in a barrel and always, despite his best intentions, finds himself in mischief.

But that evening in downtown Lima, for an audience of office workers enjoying an after-work pisco sour, El Chavo and his friends — the bossy Chilindrina and the spoiled Quico — unleashed havoc with tacks and a bucket of glue.

As Chavo recited one of his best known lines — "fue sin querer queriendo" ("I meant to even if I didn't meant to") — a man at the next table hushed his companions. "Este Chavo me encanta" ("I love that Chavo"), he said. And everyone took a minute to admire the show, before going right back to their drinking.

On Sunday, a memorial for the comedian at Mexico City's Azteca stadium drew some 40,000 people. Dozens of children dressed as El Chavo and El Chapulin accompanied Chespirito's wooden coffin into the arena. The event received saturation coverage on Spanish-language networks in the U.S. I can only imagine how it played in Latin America.

There are many reasons why Gómez's comedies have endured. The actor was a gifted performer. His skittish, dim-witted superhero, El Chapulin, was all limbs and clumsy gesturing, while as El Chavo, he captured the innocent gestures and awkward body language of a boy who doesn't quite have a place in society. Gómez fused the zany physicality of Laurel and Hardy with the clever wordplay of Cantinflas, the Mexican comedian renowned for punny, nonsensical dialogue looped in endless circles.

But the programs went beyond pie-in-the-face pratfalls (though they contained plenty of that). As Gómez told the Mexican news magazine "Proceso" in 2006, he played with the idea of the inept Everyman established by Miguel de Cervantes in "Don Quixote."

"'Don Quixote' was written by Cervantes to make fun of chivalric novels," he said. "Looking at this in a proportional manner, El Chapulin Colorado was my satire of the Supermans and the Batmans who were so abundant in that era of superheroes. That was my version of the valiant hero like Don Quixote. If Superman could detain an asteroid from crashing into Earth and do anything that he wanted, then this would be my anti-hero. El Chapulin Colorado was short, ugly, dumb, weak and scared. Yet, he nonetheless faced problems and evils, so he becomes the hero."

Beyond skewering pretension, Gómez was interested in spotlighting Latin America's working class. "El Chavo del Ocho" is particularly instructive. The show was set in a "vecindad," a typical low-income Mexican housing development, filled with single parents struggling to make ends meet.

Read more @ latimes.com 

By Silvio Waisbord

Latin America has a long, fractured, and ultimately failed history of public media. So-called “public media” typically functioned as government-controlled institutions for spurious goals – propaganda and clientelism – rather than quality content in the service of multiple public interests.

Without exceptions, every country has had state-owned broadcasting stations and newspapers that were considered “public,” which has been generally understood as not owned by private parties. However, it has never been clear what “public” means or who was the public media supposed to represent.  No country ever developed stable public media at the core of their communication systems. Each government basically appropriated public stations and newspapers as PR branches of the Executive.

Without clarity about its mission in a region subjected to cycles of democracy and authoritarianism, the prospects for public media have remained dim.

Confusion still persists. Today, many actors speak about the “public media” but without a single voice. Some governments insist in understanding “public” as their own media properties used for partisan benefit. Conservative and populist administrations have recruited state-owned media to the frontlines of their information fights with oppositional media. Other governments continue to identify “public media” with highbrow and educational content ignored by the commercial behemoths that dominate the industry.

In media landscapes dominated by private media, however, few bright experiences in public media stand out. To mention a few: Mexico’s Canal 11 and Chile’s Television Nacional have produced successful programs without giving up on public ideals. Canal Encuentro and Pakakapa, run by Argentina’s Ministry of Education, have received well-respected accolades for their quality programming. Ecuador’s state-owned newspaper El Telégrafo has published critical stories and successfully fended off government attempts to influence content. The Empresa Brasil de Comunicação, created in 2007, has made significant strides in ts commitment to principles of political autonomy and diversified production. These are important yet exceptional cases amidst dozens of publicly-owned stations and news agencies ran as partisan and personal piñatas across the region.

What remains under question is the mission of the public media in a multilayered and changing media ecology. A coherent vision is needed to dispel misunderstandings and ground the media in truly public ideals. Their purpose is to meet the communication demands of multiple publics and democracies burdened by social inequalities, violence, and political conflict. Public media should cultivate common spaces for dialogue across deep political, social and cultural differences. Also, they need to address market failures caused by the disinterest of private media in content that doesn’t deliver instant and large commercial success. Failures are many: they range from the absence of quality, evenhanded, investigative news scrutinizing power abuses by governments and companies to content that reflects the lives of citizens in multicultural democracies.

But even if the mission of public media would be clear, its political future is uncertain under the present conditions.  Public media systems in Western democracies were developed and consolidated at a time of media scarcity and significant consensus among governing political parties. They enjoy a “first-mover advantage” before the unprecedented proliferation of channels and digital platforms. None of these conditions exist in Latin America. In many countries, political polarization and party fragmentation make consensus improbable. Political elites are generally pretty satisfied with striking quid pro quo deals with private media and/or directly owning media companies. The coming of digital television is poised to drive further the fragmentation of audiences and content.

Without a strong and committed movement of citizens and political elites, the future of public media is bleak. Any media model needs champions to be successful. Private media has influential advocates with deep pockets – private companies that have dominated media markets for decades. Government-run media have powerful sponsors, too – officials who instrumentally benefit from controlling loud and expensive megaphones. Even community media has a substantial movement behind as reflected by the success of legislation recently passed in Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay. Public media, however, lacks an organized and powerful movement able to influence legislation that ensures autonomous management and provides appropriate funding that keeps partisan and commercial interests at bay.

Read more @ WorldEconomicForum.org

 A still from the new movie, also called Spare Parts, based on Joshua Davis’ 2005 WIRED story: David Del Rio as Arcega, José Julián as Santillan, Carlos PenaVega as Vazquez, and Oscar Gutierrez as Aranda.

Ten years ago, contributing editor Joshua Davis received a press release that gave him pause. Clumsily formatted and full of typos, the email described an underwater robot competition, funded by NASA, in which four high school students in Phoenix, Arizona—three of them undocumented immigrants from Mexico—beat MIT to win gold. Davis picked up the phone to learn more.

That reportorial instinct turned into the WIRED story “La Vida Robot” (issue 13.04), which mentioned that three of the young men didn’t qualify for federal student loans because of their immigration status. WIRED readers eventually raised more than $90,000 in scholarships for Oscar Vazquez, Cristian Arcega, Luis Aranda, and Lorenzo Santillan.

Now the story of those robot-builders has a new chapter. Spare Parts, starring George Lopez and Carlos PenaVega, opens in January, and Davis is publishing a book by the same titleupdating the kids’ story. “What happened to these guys fascinates me,” Davis says. “It changed their lives.” How? Here’s a preview.

Lorenzo Santillan

Santillan, whom Davis describes as “the mechanical genius who also loved cooking, an out-of-the-box thinker,” used the WIRED scholarship money to attend culinary school. Now he and Luis Aranda run a catering firm in Phoenix. He’s also a line cook at a local restaurant and moonlights as a mechanic.

Luis Aranda

Aranda was a US citizen when the group won the contest; today he runs a catering company with Santillan and works as janitorial supervisor for the courts in Phoenix.

Oscar Vazquez

Thanks to the scholarship funds provided by WIRED readers, Vazquez graduated from Arizona State University—but afterward he couldn’t resolve his immigration status and returned to Mexico. Then Senator Dick Durban learned of Vazquez’s plight and helped him get amnesty. Vazquez returned to the US, enlisted in the Army, and saw combat in Afghanistan. Today he’s a mechanical foreman for BNSF railroad in Montana. The movie coming out is “pretty surreal and exciting,” he says. “I’m looking forward to seeing it.”

Cristian Arcega

“He was the genius kid, supersmart,” Davis says. Arcega couldn’t finish college, in part because of money; a ballot measure raised tuition for undocumented immigrants. For a time, Arcega worked at Home Depot and now helps with a neighbor’s business. Besides that, “most of my time is spent working on product ideas,” Arcega says.

Check this out at WIRED.com

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Emanuel Lubezki are slated to be nominated for their work in 'Birdman'. Awards season has begun and Latino filmmakers are thriving after three major awards were handed out. How will this impact their chances at winning at the 2015 Oscars? (Photo : Fox Searchlight )

Awards season has begun and Latino filmmakers are thriving after three major awards were handed out.

Latin Americans represent a minority in the Hollywood industry and have always been misrepresented. However, last year, Alfonso Cuaron made history, winning the Oscar for Best Director as he became the first Latin American director to obtain the award. Meanwhile, Emmanuel Lubezki, the Mexican cinematographer won the Best Cinematography award, while Mexican-born Lupita Nyong'o won the Best Supporting Actress award.

The year is looking positive for Latin Americans once again as Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Birdman" is looking like the front-runner to win the Academy Award. The film has already won the Gotham Award and it is the top nominated film at the Indie Spirit Awards awards. Additionally, Inarritu is likely to be nominated for Best Director, as well as Best Original Screenplay.

The film will also likely to get a nomination for Best Cinematography for Lubezki. If he receives a nomination, it would mark his seventh.  

While "Birdman" is climbing up the Best Picture ladder, Oscar Isaac's performance in "A Most Violent Year" is generating positive buzz and awards traction. The Guatemalan recently won the Best Actor award at the National Board of Review and was nominated for the Gothams. Isaac is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after actors and he was already snubbed last year for his work in his breakout turn in "Inside Llewyn Davis." This year, he was cast in "X-Men: Apocalypse," "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and starred in the acclaimed "The Two Faces of January." "A Most Violent Year" has not been generating a lot of buzz due to late release date, but perhaps after the NBR win, he will obtain his first nomination.

Rodrigo Prieto is also generating a lot of buzz for his work in "The Homesman." The Mexican cinematographer has been nominated once for his work on "Brokeback Mountain" but has been ignored for his most recent work. In particular, he failed to regenerate buzz for his beautiful photography in "Babel" and "Biutiful." He also failed to get a nomination for "Lust, Caution." "The Homesman" showcases his expertise with a Western film and photographing landscapes. Prieto is likely to get nominated, especially since the Academy has shown time and again that it relishes westerns. In the past few years, "Django Unchained" and "True Grit" were both nominations for cinematography and both almost won.

Latin Americans may also have some luck in the foreign film category. "Wild Tales" recently surprised and won the National Board of Review. The Argentine feature was submitted by the country to represent the nation at the Academy Awards after it was a huge hit at the festival circuit. The feature played at Cannes, Telluride and Toronto and later became a sensation at the box office in Latin America. While Sony Pictures Classics will release it in February, there is a lot of buzz for the feature.

here are some longshots including Gael Garcia Bernal for his work in "Rosewater." After having flopped at the box office, the movie quickly faded from contention. "Chef," which features multiple Latinos, is also fading from the awards circuit but perhaps a Golden Globe nomination is more likely.

There are other foreign film contenders in particular Brazil's "The Way He Looks" which is an uplifting feature that played at Berlin and was released in theaters this year. Chile's "To Kill a Man" also received praise and won at Sundance.

The more lavish "Cantinflas" and "The Liberator" are unlikely to contend for foreign films due to their reviews, but they could receive nominations in the technical awards.

Not all is certain but it is likely that Latin Americans will once again thrive at this year's Academy Awards.  

Check this out at LatinPost.com

From Michelangelo to Mozart, the history of Western art has always tended toward the myth of the solitary genius: one man (yes, it’s usually a man) who with little more than a pen or paintbrush and a mysterious personality radically changes the course of Western culture. In truth art is rarely produced in a bubble; any great artist has a close friend, husband, wife, or editor to give invaluable feedback and put the solitary genius in his place whenever necessary.

Yet unlike other arts, film has always embraced this collaborative nature of creation, and its history is filled with the work of great duos from the Dardenne Brothers to Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel. Comedy in particular thrives off of that special chemistry produced when you mix one part Laurel with one part Hardy, or when you roll up your Cheech with a little bit of Chong. It’s about energy and connection, and when the sparks fly they can light up the audience like a forest fire.

Enter Hugo Perez and Adrian Martinez. Both accomplished artists in their own right, a chance encounter five years back set the stage for a rich collaboration that is only now beginning to bear fruit. For his part, Perez has spent years writing, producing, and directing award-winning documentaries and short films, while Martinez has made a career as a battle-worn character actor, popping up alongside the likes of Ben Stiller (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty), Will Ferrell (Casa de Mi Padre) and Zach Galifianakis(It’s Kind of a Funny Story).

With a growing collection of improvised, comedic micro-short films slowly gaining traction and a feature film in the works, these guys might have what it takes to be something like the Latino Coen Brothers, or at least their more bronzed second cousins. On the cusp of their breakout success, we sat down with these two close friends and collaborators to talk about self-empowerment, Latino Archie Bunkers, and finding magic in small moments.

 Adrian Martinez and Hugo Perez in Santa Fe, 2009

How did you guys meet?

Adrian: We met at NALIP [National Association of Latino Independent Producers], at a producers conference. Actually it was a competition that I won for a script and he won for his script. And we met in New Mexico for the first time. He had his project, I had mine, and we started talking about film and ideas and we kind of hit it off, and that was 8 years…

Read more at REMEZCLA.com