As federal officials fast-track billions in border wall construction and floating buoy barriers, local leaders and residents say they’re in the dark, and fear the worst.
On the Spanish thriller Sirāt, the concept of Saharanism, and our reckoning with narratives about the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.
Were you wondering what was going on with Mexico's right wing? And what Argentina's disappeared have to do with the U.S.-Mexico border? You've come to the right place.
See Sleep Dealer at the Fox Theater in Tucson on October 15 with a panel, featuring Alex Rivera, and an audience Q&A afterward.
Filmmaker Alex Rivera debuted Sleep Dealer, his groundbreaking border science fiction movie, at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008. The film won several awards but did not receive the wide commercial release it deserved. Over the years, Sleep Dealer has been rereleased on digital platforms and become a cult classic.
The Border Chronicle is proud to announce that on October 15, viewers will have the opportunity to see Sleep Dealer on the big screen at the Fox Theater in Tucson as part of the Cinematic Borderlands Film and Conversation Series, presented by the Fox Theater, Cinema Tucsón, Cinema Tropical, Borderlands Cinematic Arts, The Border Chronicle, and other community partners.
In this podcast, Melissa del Bosque speaks with Rivera about what inspired him to make Sleep Dealer and about collaborating with his life and creative partner, Cristina Ibarra. Both were awarded MacArthur Foundation grants, often referred to as “genius grants,” in 2021. The two filmmakers created the innovative half-documentary/half-scripted film The Infiltrators in 2019 and founded Borderlands Cinematic Arts, a filmmaking lab based in Los Angeles that is part of Arizona State University’s Sidney Poitier New American Film School, where Rivera is also an associate professor. The lab focuses on creating authentic and nuanced cinematic works about the borderlands.
Sleep Dealer touches on many social and political issues, including the border security industrial complex, migration, and social and economic inequality. Check it out on the big screen on October 15 at 7 p.m.. The screening will be followed by a panel featuring Alex Rivera, Melissa del Bosque, and David Taylor, moderated by Vicky Westover, along with an audience Q&A with the filmmaker.
Also, don’t miss Ibarra’s wonderful documentary Las Marthas, about Laredo’s Society of Martha Washington Colonial Pageant and Ball celebration, screening on October 8 at 7 p.m. as part of the Cinematic Borderlands Film and Conversation Series. Last, don’t miss Take It Away, a documentary about the legendary Tejano music host Johnny Canales, screening on October 22 at 7 p.m.
You can buy tickets and learn more about the films here.
Watch a short film on the making of Sleep Dealer here
On the Spanish thriller Sirāt, the concept of Saharanism, and our reckoning with narratives about the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.
When Alex González Ormerod, editor of the Mexico Political Economist, started researching his book about the Mexican right wing, he
Each year since 1995, the Tohono O’odham Nation has held the Unity Run. “These runs,” Amy Juan says,“not only have their purpose as prayer for the people and the land but also put us on the ground to actually see what is happening” on the border.
Mexican writer Álvaro Enrigue’s new novel, Now I Surrender, is an epic about the U.S. and Mexico’s joint erasure of Apachería.
Independent news, culture and context from the U.S.-Mexico border.
