Coming Soon: Photography Auction
April 27, 2008 by pablo · 1 Comment
Hi all! In the coming days we will be announcing the lineup for our first ever Photography Auction, with proceeds going towards Project Libertad. Some of the most contemporary photographers from the US and Europe have donated their works to be auctioned on-line and in person at our New York City fundraiser. These photographers, all passionate about their craft and about their communities, have generously donated their best works for Libertad’s cause.
We will be announcing the lineup and auction site soon, so stay tuned and get ready to add some great works to your walls.
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Child Assasination: Two hours from Hollywood
April 27, 2008 by pablo · Leave a Comment
This is what I read in the LA Times this morning: “The violence has terrorized Tijuana and other cities, where cartel hit men have all but abandoned traditional codes of honor, with brazen daylight attacks and assassinations of children.” What more do you need to know about the rising violence along the Mexico-US border? Read more
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Do we need another Border Story?
April 22, 2008 by pablo · 2 Comments
In talking to people about my script, Libertad, and telling them in takes place along the Mexican-American border, I usually pick up a sense of fatigue coming from the other person. It’s as if their body language screams “do we need another border story?” In some ways, I can understand this. In this age of 24 hour cable news and instant internet access, the topic of the border, and specifically immigration, has been debated so much that I think lots of people have reached their saturation point. I don’t think it reflects a lack of care or concern, only a mental fatigue that can set in after something has been argued from every angle, and then argued again.
But what are we to make of all the stats we’ve heard of the situation on the border? What are we to make of the fact that 32% of all children born in the state of Sonora, Mexico, in Santa Cruz country, are born into poverty? Or that three of the ten poorest counties in the United States are located in the border area? Do these stats mean anything? Let’s look at some that are even larger in their numbers and implications.
Take this stat, from www.borderhealth.org, which states that approximately 432,000 people live in 1,200 colonias in Texas and New Mexico, which are “unincorporated, semi-rural communities that are characterized by substandard housing and unsafe public drinking water or wastewater system.” If we break that down, and filter through the language, that means the that half-a-million people are living in shacks with no water to drink or sanitary sewer systems. These two systems, water and sewer, is what allows us to live healthy lives, removed from most of the disasters of health and disease that is commonplace in other areas. These crucial system, when working properly, can save thousands of lives and increase the quality of life for thousands more. Now, how many of us give thanks to our water system and sewer system? Probably not many of us.
Let’s look at another. The unemployment rate along the U.S. side of the Texas-Mexico border is 250-300 percent higher than in the rest of the country. This is a mind-blowing stat, which shows us that the border is nothing more than a line that, while neat on a map, is messy in real life. What happens on one side affects the other. For anyone to think otherwise, or to think that a wall or anything similar would make it neat, is not looking at reality. And we all know what unemployment means - disenfranchisement, increased crime, etc.
Finally, lets look at the border region (AZ,TX and NM) as if it was the “51st state”. This would be it’s rankings compared the other 50 states:
- Rank last in access to health care;
- Second in death rates due to hepatitis;
- Third in deaths related to diabetes;
- Last in per capita income;
- First in the numbers of school children living in poverty; and
- First in the numbers of children who are uninsured.
These stats are mind blowing. FIRST in the number of school children living in poverty. That is the one that gets me. But, as stats go, as amazing as they are, they are also mind numbing. It’s hard to wrap your head around numbers, hard to feel it in your heart, but they are real. So what to do with a situation like this? Continue to peddle stats? Myself, I don’t think that is effective. I think it’s much more effective to humanize those stats. Create narratives that make people FEEL what it’s like to be surrounded by poverty, to feel the hopelessness a child born into that situation feels, and the only way I know how to do that it through cinema.
Now, yes, there have been a lot of border-themed films. Most, however, are immigration stories (El Norte being my favorite). But immigration, while related to the condition of the border, is not the same as a film “about” a border town that feels the effects of immigration. Much different, and in my opinion, much more evocative. And we all know the kind of treatment Hollywood has given the border. For all its accolades, Traffic didn’t humanize the inhabitants of the border, but simply used them as interesting archetypes that seem to be taken from some hard boiled crime novel, shot with a high contrast filter and good soundtrack. Did you feel for the people caught in their circumstances? I know I didn’t. It felt like a music video. A really looongg one.
Gregory Nava tried with Bordertown, starring Jennifer Lopez. Yes, J Lo. Jennifer Lopez, no matter how good or bad of an actor she is, is not going to be able to slip off her Hollywood persona and make me think she is a woman in peril amidst the serial killer stalking Juarez. Two words - puh leez.
Can you think of other border-town films? I’m sure there are handful of bigger budget features that touch on it, probably a lot of indies, but I’d guess there isn’t anywhere near the number of films or television shows actually made about the border than what the perception is - again, a by-product of that media saturation of immigration as a topic.
So we come back to the stats. How can we continue to ignore the plight of the border in cinema in light of those stats? After all, cinema is currently our conduit for national and public discussion. Like it or not, cinema is so ingrained in what whether choose to engage or ignore issues that it is perhaps the most important art in our culture. So, to me as a filmmaker it makes perfect sense to look at those stats and say “okay, this is where we need to be”.
So, what makes Libertad different? First, we don’t look at what it’s like for a Mexican to go to the US - but rather, what is it like for an immigrant to go back home - where the US no longer feels like home, but neither does Mexico. It’s that feeling of displacement that so many immigrants feel, especially when they realize they can assimilate only so much here in the states, but just enough to not fit in in their homeland anymore.
Second, Libertad looks at the effects of poverty on each of its characters, and what does poverty bring - despair, drug abuse, displacement, disillusionment, anger, mistrust - and how do people overcome this (hope, pride, strength, courage). It’s these universal struggles that make stories like Libertad accessible to us all.
Also, Libertad looks at violence and its role in a society that has been deludged with it, and how it becomes a fabric of it’s core, sadly. And on and on. There are many more things that make Libertad special, too numerous to list here.
So, when I think of my decision to look south of the border for this project, I feel good about it. I hope to do for the kids and communities of Liberatad what I did for the kids of Runnin’ At Midnite - instill a bit of hope - and get the crowd to actually think about the border as a region that inhabits real live people, living in real life squalor, and battling real life problems.
All this said, I know some people will still wonder if we truly need another border story. Well, to that question I now pose this questions: why not? Is the border struggle solved? Is it at a point where we shouldn’t keep examining it through art? I think not.
stats from: http://www.borderhealth.org/border_region.php
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Los Angeles Reception Press Release
April 15, 2008 by pablo · Leave a Comment
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INDEPENDENT FILMMAKER TO ANNOUNCE NEW FEATURE FILM PROJECT
& YOUTH EMPOWERMENT INITIATIVE IN LOS ANGELES
Event Celebration & Fundraiser to be held in Venice – May 10th
Venice, CA - Pablo Toledo, the inspiration behind the successful independent film Runnin’ at Midnite, and his newly founded creative entity, The Good Fight Creative (TGFC), are set to announce their new feature film project entitled Libertad, a film about life on the US/Mexican border. A cocktail reception to raise funds and awareness for project will be held on May 10th, 2008 at the Grind Art & Print Gallery in Mar Vista, California.
In addition to the film, Toledo is announcing the creation of “Project Libertad”, an effort to engage and empower youth by holding free filmmaking and photography workshops in conjunction with Libertad’s production. Professional filmmakers and photographer will travel from LA to Mexico to work with the youth to teach them film and video skills, and then mentor them throughout the production of “Libertad”.
Writer & Director Pablo Toledo: “Since our first film we’ve received numerous requests to create another film that engaged people on the same level as Runnin’ At Midnite, one that really takes a hard look at parts of our society that are underrepresented. Libertad is that film.”
Libertad tells the story of Felipe Vargas, an American detective who returns to his hometown on the border in Mexico to exonerate a troubled brother suspected of committing multiple murders and the transforming friendship he forms with a local orphan boy during his investigation.
According to Toledo, central to the film is the plight of homeless children who inhabit many of the colonias and shantytowns along the US/Mexico border.
Writer & Director Pablo Toledo: “In doing my research for Libertad it amazed me how many families are ripped apart because of immigration. How many kids are left behind to fend for themselves, and how these kids survive in some of harshest environments around. It really compelled me to explore it deeper”.
Producer Laura Gatewood: “Because Project Libertad is essentially a ground-up, community based effort, the execution of this film and workshops will depend on the generosity of our supporters. It’s a win-win situation, as we see it. Help us bring to life films that Hollywood wouldn’t and couldn’t make…allow us to reach out and engage youth….and it’s all tax deductible”.
Contact Info: Email: info@good-fight.org | Media Inquiry: Laura Gatewood - 704-576-9766
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Video: Arizona Fundraiser
April 14, 2008 by pablo · Leave a Comment
Hear from the attendees from Libertad’s Arizona Kickoff Reception!
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Los Angeles Fundraiser
April 14, 2008 by pablo · Leave a Comment
In little over a month Project Libertad will hold a “party with a purpose” at The Grind Gallery. Details are as follows: Read more
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Producer | Laura Oyama
April 14, 2008 by pablo · Leave a Comment
Ann has worked across a variety of sectors, most notably as Executive Director of the Ronald McDonald House where she oversaw the raising of funds and support for the institution. Following her role in the non-profit world she succeeded as an entrepreneur, opening and managing the premiere aromatherapy shop in Tucson for several years. Her exposure through work to impoverished families and communities lead her now to direct her energies towards supporting the creation of art that champions the rights and dreams of those who don’t have the means to realize them alone.
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Writer & Director | Pablo Toledo
April 14, 2008 by pablo · 1 Comment
Since graduating from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television, Pablo has directed his energies towards becoming an accomplished and well-rounded filmmaker. This is evident in his first feature film, Runnin’ At Midnite, which he wrote, produced, and directed.
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