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“Ateneo
Puertorriqueno’s Cine sin Pantella,” the highly praised
series featuring long lost Puerto Rican films, will premiere in
the Bronx as part of Borough President Fernando Ferrer’s
Puerto Rican Heritage Month Celebration.
Four Puerto Rican
motion pictures once believed to be permanently missing will be
shown from Sunday, November 19th to Wednesday,
November 22nd, at Hostos Community College’s
Repertory Theater, Grand Concourse at East 149th
Street. Admission
is free.
“Film is a
wonderful medium to preserve our heritage and culture,” Ferrer
said. “There is
no better way to celebrate Puerto Rican Heritage Month 2000 than
bringing back to New York audiences these jewels of Puerto Rican
cinema.”
Founded in
1876, Ateneo Puertorriqueno (Puerto Rican Athenaeum) is
the oldest and most active cultural institution in Puerto Rico.
A not for profit organization, its mission is to preserve
and promote Puerto Rican arts, culture, identity, and values.
Its film unit, headed by Professor Jose Orraca, owns Cine
Nuestro (Our Cinema) the largest collection of Puerto Rican
motion pictures in the world.
Directed by
writer and director Roberto Ramos-Perea,"Cine sin
Pantella” (films without screen) is a special project to
recover and revive long lost Puerto Rican films.
This summer after years of research, the program began
screening at Ateneo Puertorriqueno’s San Juan
headquarters its most precious findings to date.
Ferrer then
asked to present the series in New York, in celebration of
Puerto Rican Heritage Month.
Some of these films unaccounted for since their original
release decades ago, were blockbusters with New York Puerto
Rican audiences.
“Before Spanish
language television arrived, Spanish language movies were the
primary form of entertainment for Puerto Ricans and overall
Hispanics in New York. It
was common to see lines around the block of people waiting to
get into local theaters, to watch the films and live performance
interludes that made them feel closer to home,” Ferrer added.
The
films to be shown in the Bronx are:
Ayer Amargo/Sour
Yesterday (Drama-1959): An unfertile woman obsessed with
motherhood recurs to desperate measures to have a child.
Trouble erupts when her husband’s illegitimate son is
sent to live in her household.
Starring Marta Romero, Arturo Correa, Roberto Rivera-Negron,
and Raul Carbonell Jr. Produced
by Geronimo Mitchell Melendez, and directed by Amilcar Tirado.
The film had been lost since its original release.
Ateneo Puertorriqueno recently obtained a 16 mm
perfectly preserved copy from a private collector.
Entre Dios y
el Hombre/Between God and Men (drama-1960): A concert
pianist gets caught in a love triangle with two college
students. Starring
Rolando Barrera, Tony Rigus, and Wally Jane Vasquez.
Featuring Cuarteto Los Rubies.
Produced and Directed by Barrera.
Born in the Dominican Republic, Barrera is attributed the
revival of commercial Puerto Rican cinema.
The film had been lost until Rigus provided Ateneo
Puertorriqueno with a copy.
Barrera produced and directed 4 other motion pictures in
Puerto Rico, all of which are currently missing.
Historia de
un Gangster/Story of a Gangster (Action-1968):
Hollywood-influenced mafia story, Puerto Rican style.
Starring Juan Orol, Velda Gonzalez, Dinorah Judith, Cesar
del Campo, and Manolo Villamil.
Directed by Orol for Caribe Films.
Orol, the most successful Mexican filmmaker in the
1940’s and 50’s, produced, directed, and distributed 8 films
in Puerto Rico. Although
Ateneo Puertorriqueno has located all of them, only 4 of
the titles are available in the Cine Nuestro Collection.
El
Curandero del Pueblo/The Town’s Quack (Comedy-1969):
Traditional quackery clashes with modern medicine in Puerto
Rico’s countryside. Starring
Adelberto Rodriguez (Machuchal), Iris Martinez, Lucy Pereda,
Eddie Miro, Esther Mari and Hector Cabrera.
Featuring Lucecita Benitez.
Directed by Fernando Cortes.
Machuchal starred in 12 motion pictures, all of which are
available in Ateneo Puertorriqueno’s archives. El
Curandero del Pueblo, one of his lesser-known works, was a
hit with New York Puerto Rican audiences.
The film had been lost since its original release until
last year, when a New York woman provided a well-preserved copy.
Historians
agree that Puerto Rican cinema faced major distribution
challenges during the 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s.
The films were distributed to theaters and Spanish
language television stations in Puerto Rico and in the U.S. but
were hardly ever returned or collected.
Ateneo
Puertorriqueno continues to track down additional titles.
The institution has called on the New York community to
support its film recovery project by providing material and/or
tips of lost film ‘whereabouts.’
“We are very
enthusiastic about the presentation of ‘Cine sin Pantella’
in New York,” Ramos-Perea said. “We hope that the local community enjoys these films, and
supports our project to recover and preserve Puerto Rican movie
classics.”
The films
to be featured in the Bronx are in Spanish language without
subtitles. Screenings
are as follows:
11/19: 11:00 A.M.: Historia de un
Gangster
1:30 P.M.: Entre Dios
y el Hombre
4:30 P.M.: Ayer
Amargo
7:00 P.M.: El
Curandero del Pueblo
11/20: 10:00 A.M.: Entre Dios y el
Hombre
1:00
P.M.: El Curandero del Pueblo
11/21:
5:00 P.M.: Historia de un Gangster
7:30 P.M:
Ayer Amargo
11/22: 12:00 P.M.: Entre Dios y el
Hombre
2:30
P.M.: El Curandero del Pueblo
For
more information on “Cine sin Pantella” and Ateneo
Puertorriqueno’s film recovery project, contact Roberto
Ramos-Perea at (718) 721-3877.
A special press opening reception in The Bronx featuring
a screening of Ayer Amargo, has been scheduled for
Thursday, November 16th, at 6:00 p.m.
For information on the New York engagement, the public
can call Bronx Borough President Ferrer’s Community Affairs
Unit, (718) 590-7092.
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