Back to home page
Back to home page

DOCUMENTARIES
Brad Epps

Brad Epps is Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and current Chair of the Committee on Degrees in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard University. He has published over sixty articles on modern literature, film, art, architecture, and immigration from Spain, Latin America, Catalonia, and France. He is currently preparing two books: The Ethics of Promiscuity, on gay and lesbian issues in Latin America, Spain, and Latino cultures in the United States, and Barcelona and Beyond, on the transformations of the Catalan capital. He is also co-editing two more volumes, All About Almodóvar: A Passion for Cinema (with Despina Kakoudaki) and Tra¡nsitos corporales: Sexualidad y cultura en el Cono Sur (with Carmen Berenguer, Luis Cárcamo-Huechante, and Raquel Olea), as well as a special issue of GLQ on Monique Wittig.

Lucas H. Guerra
Born in Argentina, Emmy-award-winner Lucas H. Guerra is the founder of Argus Communications. As an Argus Principal and Creative Director with over 14 years of professional experience in design, concept development and art direction, Lucas is responsible for all creative work developed and produced by Argus and its creative teams. His accomplishments include the 1998 Emmy Award for a Tobacco Cessation PSA and a second Emmy award for a television campaign he directed for the Massachusetts Highway and Safety Bureau.

On a pro-bono basis, Lucas has provided creative work for many organizations including the AdClub, Casa Myrna Vazquez, Sociedad Latina, League of United Latin American Citizens (L.U.L.A.C.), all in Boston. He also serves on the Board of Directors of St. Francis House and South End Health Center. Lucas has also been elected to the Board of Trustees of Lesley University.

Brett Michel

Brett Michel writes for the Boston Phoenix. In addition to writing reviews of films, his articles include interviews with filmmakers and coverage of film festivals.


NARRATIVE FILMS


Alex Alvear
Alex Alvear, Performing Arts Manager of the Center for Latino Arts/IBA, is a respected, active and experienced musician who plans and coordinates the center’s dynamic arts programming. Alex is the original mastermind behind Café Teatro, New England’s only Latino Performance series, responsible for all aspects of planning, development and production of the series. Alex has also been responsible for securing a number of collaborative relationships with organizations, educational institutions and artists for over a decade. Alex is also the leader of Mango Blue, an eight-piece band that has received numerous nominations for the Boston Music awards, as well as receiving the Phoenix’s Readers’ Poll Award for Best World Music Act. Alex has been featured in over 65 public television stations nationwide through a television special recorded in 2003 for WGBH’s La Plaza. Finally, Alex was nominated for the 2004 Latin Grammys for his work with acclaimed Latin Jazz icon Paquito D’Rivera.

Vivian Ruiz

Vivian Ruiz is the Assistant Director of the International Scholars Office at MIT. She was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala and moved to Houston, Texas at the age of 12. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas and her J.D. from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University in Houston. She previously practiced immigration law in Houston and worked as the Immigration Compliance Specialist in the International Students and Scholars Office at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. She has traveled extensively in Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia.

Miren Uriarte
Miren Uriarte is the Director of the Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy at UMass Boston and is a professor of sociology at the College of Public and Community Service. Born in Cuba, she has lived in Boston since the early 1970's. Her work focuses on the Latino experience in the US, most particularly on the differential impact of public policy on this population and the processes of settlement and community development the Latino groups are experiencing in the New England region. She also conducts research and writes about social policy and community development processes in Cuba, where she lived for several years in the late '90s.

SHORT FILMS


Eimy Bonilla
Eimy Bonilla is serving as the student juror on this year’s festival jury. She is an 8th grade student at East Somerville Community School. Originally from El Salvador, Eimy attends the afterschool program, Pintamos Nuestro Mundo/We Paint Our World where she has been a Peer Leader for one year. Eimy enjoys writing poetry and fashion design.

Brian Tamm

Brian Tamm Brian Tamm is a festival coordinator for the Independent Film Festival of Boston. When not in a movie theatre, he is part of the interactive department at Arnold, a Boston-based ad agency. He has worked on many Hatch Award-winning campaigns.

Nancy Campbell
Nancy Campbell is a festival coordinator for the Independent Film Festival of Boston. She is also a board member of the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film. For over a decade, she has been dedicated to the exhibition of foreign and independent films in the Boston Area. She currently manages the Coolidge Corner Theatre, Boston’s only not-for-profit art deco theatre.

Luis Melendez

Long-time Community Media Producer and Cultural Worker. Since 1985, Luis Meléndez has been the producer and host of Tertulia, a Spanish language program on the Public Radio affiliate for the Western New England region, WFCR in Amherst. Tertulia offers a weekly Spanish Language overview of Latino and Latin American music, culture and current events, on the air at 88.5 FM every Sunday night from 8:00 PM until midnight. Luis is also founder and co-host of SPHERIO an English language public affairs program on WMBR-MIT in Cambridge Massachusetts. Luis is passionate about cinema and has covered, among others, the World Film Festival in Montreal, producing radio pieces about Latinos in cinema, since 1998.

Raquel Ortiz
Raquel Ortiz is a first generation Puerto Rican born and raised in New York, and has over 35 years of experience as a television producer, executive producer, director and writer. During her tenure within public broadcasting she worked on two premiering Latino television series’ Realidades for Thirteen/WNET and La Plaza for WGBH-TV, Boston where she worked as an executive producer for 10 years. She was co-owner and president of Ortiz/Simon Productions, and with her partner produced wrote and narrated Mi Puerto Rico, a personal exploration of Puerto Rico/US relations, for PBS. Raquel is highly respected in the community and has served on myriad boards, including the Trustee of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. She is also the author of the recently published memoir “The Silk Purse” (Xlibris.com.)

© .2006 BLIFF. All Rights Reserved.