Riverhorse selected for VIVA Festival

Manchester Science Park-based production company Riverhorse’s latest documentary project has been selected for a special preview screening at the 17th VIVA Spanish & Latin American Film Festival on Thursday, March 24th.

Under the Bridge is a must-see observational film on Mexican-American identity that challenges audiences to thing about immigration in a whole new way.  Telling the story of San Diego’s Chicano Park, situated in one of America’s oldest Mexican communities, this unique film reveals a cultural revolution that has refused to go away.

Director Mike Todd says, “It is a fantastic to be able to have this screening in Manchester at the Viva Festival, one of the city’s real cultural highlights.”

Festival organisers have invited celebrated Chicano muralist, Guillermo Aranda, as part of an event linked to the screening.

Riverhorse director, Mike Todd, and producer, Geseth Garcia, have been developing the film for several years.  

Los Angeles born Geseth explains, “Being Chicana, I wanted to make a film on Mexican-American culture/identity.  Mike and I spoke about it for many years but did not know how to approach the subject.  For us, it had to be more than just a history lesson. Going back through my music collection I remembered a song about a park in San Diego.”

Chicano Park was created in 1970 when residents of Barrio Logan objected to the building of a Highway Patrol Substation in their neighbourhood.  They had been promised a park on that land, under the bridge.  The people organised and reclaimed the land for their park.

The film also looks at the contemporary legacy of the Park and the Chicano movement, revealing how Chicano culture is still impacting on young Mexican-Americans today.  The film contains contributions from key Chicano cultural figures including artists Salvador Torres, Mario Torero and Guillermo Aranda and activists such as Border Angels founder Enrique Morones.

The project is due to be broadcast on America’s Public Broadcast Service later this year.

Under the Bridge screens Thursday, 24th March at 6pm at Cornerhouse, Manchester.  A special Q&A session with Chicano artist Guillermo Aranda and director Mike Todd follows the screening.

Riverhorse is an independent, Manchester-based, production company specialising in quality factual content for international distribution and broadcast.


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Links:

www.riverhorse.tv

www.facebook.com/UnderTheBridgeFilm

www.cornerhouse.org

www.vivafilmfestival.com