her pueblo point of view - dvd projector

The community residence in the center of little Pueblo is a spare painted room.
Hand tools and cement bags stack high at one end.
Rows of simple plastic seats are arranged on the concrete floor.
The only thing that doesn't fit in this country is the DVD projector.
Yolanda Cruz, a Silver Lake filmmaker, stands in front of the room and introduces her movie "sannos binakiles" (
Dream of two countries)
Locals come out on this rainy night.
The vast majority of Zapotecans's audience consists of elderly people and children: almost no one in the audience is between the ages of 18 and 60.
This is a reflection of their village, where many older enough people have left to work in the United States for a long time.
This is also a very clear phenomenon for Cruz himself.
She grew up in the mountains 150 miles away.
As young residents immigrate to the United States, her community has also seen its Pueblo empty. S.
To find a job.
What happened to them and the community they left behind was a deep and personal concern for Cruz ---
And the theme of her film.
With the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, the dream of the two countries is a 30-
Documentary on two groups of Oaxacan immigrants-
One is in California and the other is in North Carolina.
In stark language, it captures the enormous sacrifices they have made in immigration, telling the story of a young mother leaving the village, the culture, and even her children as hotel maids.
The 31-year-old, who is about 5 feet tall, has her face framed with long black hair and she laughs and says she should knit more often.
The laughter brightened her face and conveyed the same confidence and charm.
In the conversation with Cruz, one more thing soon became apparent ---
She is strong, and to some extent she is sure of herself.
Cruz flew to Southern Mexico earlier this month to show her film as part of the 8 th International Indigenous Film Festival.
In addition to the Oaxaca project, 80 special screenings were held in a small village in southern Mexico, a unique effort to bring these films to the indigenous people, they may never have another chance to see these movies.
The village that Cruz travels to is located in the northern Sierra Mountains, on a narrow ridge wide enough to accommodate community residences, 17th-century churches and winding dirt roads.
Cruz's film took quite a bit of time in the village where it was left behind like this.
The reality it faces is that there are very few economic opportunities in puebroo, where most of the work is to maintain a livelihood of agricultural and storefront stores that usually earn too little to feed a couple, A family is missing.
It is also true that it shows how immigrants consume the most important resources of the village ---their people --
Personal, community and cultural tensions.
Cruz allowed her theme to tell the story in their own words.
But her perspective is unique, reflecting a person who knows both sides of the border.
As a result, the film is not an argument about legal and illegal immigration.
This is a statement about how difficult it is to choose.
"The film is for questioning, not for providing a clear answer," Cruz said . ".
"It is true that both sides of the border are changing.
Let's see what these changes mean.
"Just as interested as she is in the ongoing immigration debate in the United States. S.
Her attention was focused on a piece of grass. roots level.
Most of her films are organized.
It's no coincidence that she grew up in the home of community activists.
Cruz was born in sinigira, little pueblo, an area occupied by the chantino Indian community.
Cruz himself is chartina.
The village was established and organized by her father, who later became an activist working for Chatino rights.
Her family moved to Oaxaca when she was 6.
But they always keep close contact with the village and go back as much as possible.
At the age of 15, one night her father appeared from a community meeting in a nearby city and her life suddenly changed and was shot dead.
It is widely believed that the murderer was a hired gun.
But justice has proved elusive, and the family is more concerned about survival.
After her sister got married and moved to Washington state, Cruz went with her.
A few years later, she entered Evergreen State University in Olympia, Washington.
Like her father, she is attracted to political activities and the rights of indigenous peoples.
But when she was in a Russian film class, she was moved by the ability of the film to express political values.
"I realized that movies are a great tool for organization," she said . "
She continued to take part in the film program at the University of California, Los Angeles, and found a large community of Oaxaquenos-
It's sometimes called oaxacalinians--
All the immigrants in her hometown now live in Los Angeles.
Many are thinkers, artists, teachers, activists-
It was natural for her to settle in among them.
It also provides information for her film, which has focused primarily on the unique problems faced by Mexican Indians since the beginning.
Her student, "Entre suenños "(Within Dreams)
In 2000, she was selected as part of the "native vision" category of the Sundance Film Festival as a meditation on an Aboriginal woman seeking identity.
Her host's project was to follow Zapotecan, a gardener in Los Angeles, back home to host the festival Festival, the most important event of the year in his village.
The "two-state DREAM" naturally grew up from these immigration themes and what Cruz called "transnational ---
People with two national and cultural identities.
Nevertheless, the anchor of the film was where Cruz returned from an early age ---the village.
In fact, for the first time, she showed the "two dreams" in her village ".
It caused a lot of excitement and when it ended the audience asked to look at it again and then again.
"Most of the time, they just want to get a glimpse of their family, friends or neighbors, sometimes just to see and sometimes to make fun.
Since then, the film has attracted an increasing audience, especially among university groups, who are using the documentary to illustrate the plight of immigrants, when the state has been swept through the immigration debate.
* The main audience is happy for her American audience.
But she insists that the main audience of the "Two Dreams" has always been those who live in small Mexican villages and towns, where there are so many immigrants. (
When it was on display in Mexico City, the idea of immigration seemed strange to some.
"Mexico City is a place where people leave from the village, not where many people leave," Cruz said . ". )
But it is difficult to bring the film to Pueblo, which is often remote and has few cinemas or any way to show the film.
That is why she is very happy to have her film shown at the annual film festival in this decisive rural community, which is the idea of one of the organizers, gillemo montfuor.
"It's easy to hold film festivals in this city, but these films need to reach out to the people they care about," said montfuor.
"Cruz is eager to see how the audience in this village will react.
When the film ended, she quickly stood up and began to ask the audience what they thought of the film, rather than waiting for a comment.
"It's sad," said an older lady, Felipa Juarez . ".
She has a brother who has been in the United States. S. for 10 years.
She said that even though they only work on the ground in their villages, immigrants suffer under the weight of their decision to find jobs in the United States.
"People are back," she said . "
Cruz asked if anyone had family or friends in the United States. S.
Most people raise their hands.
A young man said he wanted to go there by himself.
Another old man, Cruise's Fire (
Has nothing to do with Yolanda)
He said he was in the United States. S. as a bracero --
Allowed workers-in 1944.
"This is the first time I have seen such a movie," he said . "
"I want to come again.
"After the screening, Yolanda Cruz repaired a spare taqueria with a plastic table and bare floor.
When Stallone's movie plays out loud on the restaurant's biggest asset ---a television --
She went deep into tostada and discussed her next project.
One is a documentary about women and immigrants, and the other is a documentary about Mexico. against-Mexican racism.
She is still working on a drama that will be staged in her village, which is not surprising.
Her thoughts often go back to country life, as Cruz did when she reflected in the evening screening.
"It's great to show it here.
"It's not a foreign thing for these audiences," she said . "
"In other places people can say, 'Oh, your language sounds like Chinese. ' " (
Like many indigenous languages of Wahaka, chantino has tones. )
"We may be different tribes, but we have a lot of similarities.
When asked what she thought her home was, she thought about it, but just thought about it for a while.
"My village is home. So is L. A.
Cruz said he became an American citizen. S.
Citizens two years ago
"There are many places like me where there are families.