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This weekend’s Cinco de Mayo LA festival will honor the contributions of Latinos to America’s filmmaking in over a century. The major event brings together dozens of world-famous Latino music stars and will also feature segments on culture, food, community empowerment, financial philanthropy and, crucial to a nation beating the pandemic, a call to Latinos to get vaccinated against COVID. 

The fest will feature “Latinos in Hollywood,” a series of video segments from the documentary The Bronze Screen: 100 Years of The Latino Image in Hollywood Cinema. This section is presented by Latin Heat Media. The videos feature legends like Anthony Quinn, Kathy Jurado, Raquel Welch, Rita Moreno and Rita Hayworth, among others. 

Some of the biggest stars in Hollywood in the first half of the twentieth century were Dolores del Rio, Ramon Novarro, Lupe Velez and Ricardo Montalban, according to Bel Hernandez of Latin Heat Media. LHM is the parent company of this website, LatinHeat.com, which has been covering Hollywood for over two decades.

“Cinco de Mayo LA is proud to bring you a glimpse of the history of Latinos in Hollywood in short clips of the groundbreaking and important documentary The Bronze Screen,” says Hernandez. “This documentary highlights, examines, analyzes and critiques the portrayal of Latinos in Hollywood over the course of a century. To know our history empowers us to learn to create a better future.”

The documentary was produced by multiple Primetime Emmy nominee Nancy De Los Santos (Selena, Resurrection Blvd.), Susan Racho (American Gladiators) and Alberto Domínguez. “Susan Racho and I are so very proud of being a part of this celebration with highlights from The Bronze Screen: 100 Years of the Latino Image in Hollywood Cinema,” says De Los Santos. “This celebration – Cinco de May LA – is being held on May 29th, and in my mind… every day is Cinco de Mayo!”

It is fitting that one of the sponsors of the festival is Warner Bros. Pictures’ whose upcoming musical film In The Heights, features an all Latino cast, and on which the producers, Lin Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes, (also the writer) are Latinos. In The Heights premieres on June 11.

Slated for Sat., May 29 from 6 to 9 p.m. PST and co-hosted by Hollywood stars Rosario Dawson (The Mandalorian) and Melissa Barrera (upcoming In The Heights), the festival will feature about 20 Latino music stars will help raise awareness and funds for the California Rural Legal Assistance, a prominent legal aid nonprofit serving farmworkers. 

More than a third of U.S. farmworkers live in California and 92 percent of them are Latino, helping produce a third of the nation’s vegetables and more than 350 food commodities, according to festival organizers. “They have labored in the fields through the pandemic and are a driving force that keeps the nation’s grocery stores stocked,” says Manny Ruiz, festival co-producer. “Yet, despite the hazards that farmworkers face, they receive far fewer legal protections than most other workers.”

Presenting Sponsor, Latino Community Foundations,

The Latino Community Foundation is on a mission to unleash the civic and economic power of Latinos in California. LCF has the largest network of Latino philanthropists in the country and has invested $17 million to build Latino civic and political power and leadership in the
state. It is the only statewide foundation solely focused on investing in Latino youth and families in California.

Cinco de Mayo LA will also highlight the importance of Latinos taking the COVID vaccine. The pandemic has disproportionately affected Latinos. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Latinos are twice as likely to contract the virus as white adults are and 2.3 times more likely to die from it. Furthermore, vaccine access remains a challenge in many Latino communities.

Festival production company Brilla Media partnered with CRLA because of the organization’s 55-year track record of providing legal assistance in the areas of labor and employment, housing, health, and education to farmworkers throughout California, according to Ruiz, who is also a senior partner at Brilla Media. He says that celebrities and other guests will encourage donations for CRLA during the festival’s broadcast. “All of the donations submitted through this special festival link, http://weblink.donorperfect.com/CRLA-Cinco, will go directly to CRLA,” says Ruiz.

Other fest sponsors include Converse, WSS, Warner Bros. Pictures’ upcoming musical film In The Heights, Disney and Pixar’s upcoming animated film Luca, the Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino and MyCajita.

The festival will be broadcast Sat., May 29 from 6 to 9 p.m. on the VMe national network, Viva Live TV’s OTT platform and streamed on the Facebook fan pages of Spanish Broadcast System stations like New York’s La Musica Mega 97.9 and 93.1 Amor, Los Angeles’s 97.9 La Raza and Mega 96.3, Miami’s El Zol 106.7, Zeta 92 and Ritmo 95.7, San Francisco’s 93.3 La Raza, Maria Marin Live and Cinco de Mayo L.A., among others.

For more information, visit https://www.cincodemayola.com.

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Slated for Sat., May 29 from 6 to 9 p.m., the fest’s music headliners include reggaeton artist Jay Wheeler, norteña group La Original Banda Limon, urbano star Rafa Pabon, pop singer Tefi Valenzuela and L.A.-based band La Santa Cecilia. Other confirmed performers are Dafne, Diego Latoo,  El Chapo de Sinaloa, Grupo G, ICC, Jessi Uribe, Jawn Darko, Lady Vixxen, Los Dioses del Ritmo, Los Wizzards, Melanie Pfirrman, Paola Jara, and Yanet Guadalupe. 

A well-known “artivist” and movie star, Dawson is a co-founder of Voto Latino, a nonprofit that encourages young Latinos to vote and get politically involved, and has also supported various causes from the environment to farmworkers. Coincidentally, she was cast as Dolores Huerta in the 2014 biopic Cesar Chavez about the late labor union leader, which won her a special achievement Alma Award. Her film and TV credits include Sin City, Rent, Seven Pounds and the series Jane the Virgin. She will star in the upcoming series Ahsoka Tano, a spinoff of the series The Mandalorian.

Barrera, who got her start in the U.S. as one of the leads on Starz’s Vida. Soon after the series was canceled, Barrera landed the lead in the upcoming musical feature, In The Heights, based on Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical. The Mexico-born artist starred in telenovelas like Siempre Tuya Acapulco and Tanto Amor before coming to the U.S. She also co-stars in the upcoming installment of the horror franchise Scream. 

The fest’s fashion segment is curated by Adriana Pavon, a Mexican designer and founder of México Cultura y Orgullo, a nonprofit initiative supporting indigenous artists.

Cinco de Mayo LA will also feature a comedy skit by MexicanGueys, an L.A.-based duo composed by cousins Jairo Orozco and Bryan Rojo of the podcast Spilling the Frijoles. 

The fest will also include mixology segments and recipes, highlight the importance of getting the COVID vaccine and spotlight In the Heights, the movie.

A production of Brilla Media, the event is presented by the Latino Community Foundation and will raise funds for the California Rural Legal Assistance, a legal aid nonprofit serving farmworkers.

“Cultura, Musica y Arte – it’s the medicine we all need right now, and that’s why LCF is honored to support the Cinco de Mayo LA Festival,” says Jacqueline Martinez Garcel, LCF’s CEO. “As we celebrate, let’s also make sure our loved ones get vaccinated. We miss those fuerte abrazos!”

The festival will be broadcast on the VMe national network, Viva Live TV’s OTT platform and streamed on the Facebook fan pages of Spanish Broadcast System stations like New York’s La Musica Mega 97.9 and 93.1 Amor, Los Angeles’s 97.9 La Raza and Mega 96.3, Miami’s El Zol 106.7, Zeta 92 and Ritmo 95.7, San Francisco’s 93.3 La Raza, Maria Marin Live and Cinco de Mayo L.A., among others.

Organizers hope the fest will also be am in-person in the streets of Los Angeles next year in addition to its webcasting.

Other festival sponsors are Converse, WSS, Disney and Pixar’s upcoming animated film Luca, the Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino and MyCajita.

Strategic partners, producers and media allies for this year’s Cinco de Mayo L.A. festival include EsTiempo, Latin Heat Media, Viva Live TV, The Cerro Group, La Plaza de Cultura y Artes, Dustelli Music. 

For more information, visit https://www.cincodemayola.com.

Featured Photo: Melissa Barrera (Credit: Barrera IG) and Rosario Dawson (Credit: ABC)

The post Rosario Dawson and Melissa Barrera to co-Host Cinco de Mayo L.A. fest first appeared on .