For Actor-Director Carlos Carrasco, founder of The Panamanian International Film Festival in Los Angeles (PIFF/LA), working with Raul Julia has always been a career highlight.

“I was a Shakespearean trained actor,” said Carrasco, “and, as a Latino, classically trained role models were few and far between.”

The two actors were in New York City at the same time, but it wasn’t until Carrasco moved to Los Angeles that he got to work with Julia in the HBO film The Burning Season, directed by the legendary John Frankenheimer of Manchurian Candidate fame. The film also brought Edward James Olmos and Julia together for the first and only time in a memorable East Coast meets West Coast moment celebrating the pairing of two iconic stars of Puerto Rican and Mexican-American descent.  

Carlos Carrasco’s clip of the classic film, The Burning Season, check the Latino actors: CLICK HERE

Latin Heat got to speak to Carrasco about his memories of Raul Julia, the mission of PIFF/LA, and the legacy of Latino actors, filmmakers, and storytellers in today’s turbulent times.

Remembering Raul: 25 Years Later

LH: Why did you choose Ben DeJesus’ The World’s A Stage for Panafest’s Opening Night? 

CC: First, I got to see the documentary premiere at LALIFF and it was sensational on so many levels. I would be remiss if I didn’t congratulate Edward James Olmos on an exceptional slate of films, youth participation, and an inspiring vision that was palpable at LALIFF. I was incredibly moved by Ben DeJesus’ commitment to telling Raul’s story in a way that honored the man, his family, and all those he touched in life and beyond. From the veteran Latino actors whose voices are woven into the documentary to the awareness that today’s generation of young Latino actors needs to know the Latino stage and screen journey.

It wasn’t until later that I realized three uncanny coincidences: 1) our Festival was scheduled within a week of Raul’s passing 25 years ago; 2) The Downtown Independent, our theater, is just block from where Hispanicize is taking place on the same date. This major event is produced by NGLC [NGL Collective], who also produced the documentary. And 3) both my wife and I worked on The Burning Season as she was handling Latinx PR outreach for HBO at the time. The Burning Season was about the 1988 murder of Chico Mendes and his impact on environmental consciousness in Brazil. Fast forward and the Amazon is burning. We need to remember. 

LH: What’s a favorite Raul Julia story?

CC: I knew Raul years ago in New York as we were connected by a mutual relationship with the dynamic Miriam Colón, founder and director of the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, my theatre home in NY. Miriam ran a playwright’s unit which held readings of works in progress. I participated in many of those, and on one occasion Raul joined us.

Imagine our surprise when we learned that what we were reading was an interminable opus in iambic pentameter about Eskimos lamenting the dwindling whale population and the subsequent shortage of blubber. Why a Puerto Rican playwright felt compelled to write about Eskimos shall remain a mystery. The thing was so long that as the reading progressed more and more actors began to peel off to ‘previous commitments,’ but Raul staunchly plodded on. In the end, it was just me and him with the director reading in the rest of the cast of thousands of Eskimos and we eventually made it to the end. I have always admired him for doing that.

LH: Rumor has it the Raul Julia documentary is almost sold-out. What else is happening at Panafest 2019?

CC: So much good stuff. This is our 5^th year and we have expanded to three days. The films, panels, and other programming are so exciting. First, there’s a significant number of Panamanian and US Panamanian films represented in all genres – docs, features, animation, shorts – even the first horror film feature from Panama, Diablo Rojo. Day 1 kicks off with a documentary by an LA-born Panamanian from USC, Angelique Molina, whose documentary about gentrification in LA’s View Park area is fascinating. As is a revealing family DNA search shared in a documentary by Panamanian Anayansi Prado. My Associate Director Maia de Zan Hatch has done an amazing job of forming alliances with an exceptional community of independent film festivals and creators in Panama. There’s even a short music film that speaks to immigration from Grammy Award winners Las Rakas, a Panamanian duo from Oakland.

Saturday is packed with innovation. Everything from The Poetry Gallery Pop-Up in the Lobby created by PenClique to a live spoken word and dance performance created for the Festival by SP!T’s Alex Alpharaoh, whose solo-show WET and his DACA journey is the subject of a documentary that evening. And speaking of innovation, Sergio Garza Fox has directed a feature, Intolerance No More, that knocked my socks off. I don’t want to give too much away, but this film is shot with the most non-traditional use of technology – from cell phones to Go Pros to Security cameras. You just have to see it. And it’s about profiling and social media. Very visionary.

Sunday Fun Day is our nickname for a block of films that are just laugh-out-loud funny or twisted in a dark comedy kind of way. This includes Danny Hasting’s US Premiere of his feature film Venus De Macho. Danny founded the Original Latino Film Festival in Coachella and he’s Mexican-Panamanian and he’s the best kind of crazy.  Sunday closes with Fanny Grande’s award-winning documentary Quinceañera.

40% of the Festival’s content is by female directors. There’s also a lot of Afro-Latinx storytelling, LGBTQ narratives, and a spectrum of storytelling that defies stereotypes.” — Carlos Carrasco

LH: We heard there’s also going to be an altar at the Festival? 

CC: Yes, we are grateful to award-winning and deeply respected artist and Day of the Dead scholar Consuelo Flores for bringing her talents into our Festival and creating an altar to celebrate the Latinx talent who we lost too soon. The week of the Festival, for example, is very close to the 5th Anniversary of Elizabeth Peña’s passing. I knew Elizabeth since she was a kid in NYC and worked with her on several occasions. It will be in the lobby and free to the public to come to see it. We hope they’ll honor us by staying for a film as well. There’s something for everyone.
PIFF/LA’s Panafest 2019 runs October 18-20

Full Schedule and Tickets at Eventbrite: 5Panafest.Eventbrite.com

Facebook @Panamanian International Film Festival in LA

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In its fifth year, The Panamanian International Film Festival in Los Angeles brings Panafest 2019, a celebration of cinema, culture, and community, to The Downtown Independent Theater Los Angeles on October 18, 19, and 20. The three-day event includes cultural activities, panels, and films. A new addition to Panafest 2019 is a prestigious judging panel that includes Juan Escobedo, Juan Agustin Marquez, Angela Ortiz, and Sabrina Precario.

The Panafest 2019 film selection is brought to life through films with inspiring themes like immigration, profiling, diversity, and identity. The films range from heartwarming comedy to a technologically sophisticated thriller, to a horror film based on a Panamanian folk tale.

“The Latino community is under attack and the creative community is striking back against stereotypes and marginalization,” said Carlos Carrasco, Artistic Director of The Panamanian International Film Festival in Los Angeles. “Panafest 2019 will share the work of a vibrant group of innovative storytellers whose fresh voices and perspectives illuminate things that matter to us all.”

Panafest 2019 Line Up

• Migrante by Ezequiel Dalinger and Daniel Iezzi (Argentina) 
• And the Brave Shall Rise by Adam Schlachter (USA) 
• There Goes the Neighborhood by Angelique Molina (USA/Panama) 
• Chico Heron and the Last 42 by Alberto Serra
• Turnover by Linda Palmer (USA)
• Raúl Julia: The World’s a Stage by Ben DeJesus (USA)
• Hope of Pineapples by Jorge Cajar (Panama) 
• Darién, Vienen o Van by Andrea Victoria Calderón (Panama)
• Truth in Silence (Nadie nos quita) by Juan Daniel Pinzón (Panama)
• Banalities by Rafael de Andrade (Brazil)  
• The Serpent’s Skin by Adrian Cruz García (Costa Rica)
• Chronicles: Sol & Javi (Crónicas: Sol y Javi) by Ernesto Gutierrez (Costa Rica) 
• Deliver by Ricardo Farias (Cuba)
• El Uniforme No Se Esconde by Juan Quirós (Panama)
• Arnold by Mona Lisa García (Panama/USA)
• Juan Melgar Junín by Sebastian Touma (Panama)
• Sundae by Halsam Ortega (Panama)
• Frog Boy (Niño Rana) by Laura Zenobi and Lucas Altmann (Argentina)
• Against The Stream (Contracorriente) by Carlos Asse (USA/Mexico)
• A Wish by Agustina Claramonte (Argentina)
• Processing Station by Rodrigo Espinosa (USA) 
• Blue Cape (Capa Azul) by Alejandra López (Puerto Rico) 
• Chimpanzees (Chimpancés) by Ull Galindez (Argentina)
• Los Riders del Rufina by Elvira Gálvez Límaco, Dara Nicole Ríos, José Daniel Cerdas, Obed Samudio (Peru/Nicaragua/Costa Rica/Panama)      
• What Are You? by Anayansi Prado (Panama) 
• Alpharaoh by Lidieth Arevalo (USA)
• Jeremy by Enrique Rico Diaz (USA) 
• American Dream, Music Video by Los Rakas
• Intolerance No More by Sergio Guerrero (Mexico/USA)
• The Art of Devils (El Arte de Los diablos) by Benjamín Liao (Panama)
• Diablo Rojo/PTY by Sol Moreno (Panama)
• Panamá Radio by Edgar Soberón (Panama)
• Hunter by Shashank Varma (USA)
• Wall (Muro) by Alejandro Irias Leiva (Honduras)        
• In Colors (De Colores) by Stephanie Willis (USA) 
• The End (Fin) by Sabrina Macchi (Argentina) 
• Final Frontier by Stephen Cervantes (USA/Panama)
• Un Polvo by Renzo Arteaga (Panama)  
• Bite! by Danny Arroyo (USA)
• Home For Mom by Emiliana Ammirata (Venezuela) 
• Four Women Away From Home (Cuatro Mujeres Lejos de Casa) by Pablo Riesgo (Spain)
• The Fur Day by Camille Sloan (Panama/USA)
• Honey, I’m Home by Gabriela Méndez (Panama)  
• A Period Piece by Silvia Ray (US/Mexico)
• Papi Papilloma by Juan Escobedo (USA)
• Venus de Macho by Danny Hastings (USA/Panama)
• Jalisco by Kayden Phoenix (USA)
• To Play With Fire by Gabriela Paciel (USA/Cuba/Mexico)
• The Girl Next Door by Donna Bonilla Wheeler (US/Peru)
• Pozole by Jessica Mendez Siqueiros
• Control/Option/Escape by Gandja Monteiro (US/Brazil)
• Shy & Ketchup by Teresa Romo (Chile)
• Alejandro Busca Ayuda by Rafa Leonard (Panama)
• Kid Miguel (Chico Miguel) by Maximiliano Subiela (Argentina)
• Our Quinceañera by Fanny Véliz (USA)        

Tickets for Panafest 2019 are available for purchase on www.eventbrite.com. For more information about The Panamanian International Film Festival in Los Angeles visit www.piffla.com.

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