Author: Fara

  • “NACO es CHIDO” – “KITSCH is COOL”

     Naco es Chido is the brainchild of Sergio and Yareli Arau, a mockumentary on the epic return of Botellita de Jerez. Directed by Sergio Arau, the film tells the story of Botellita de Jerez, who disappeared along with their new record after a fist fight. 20 years later, the infamous missing recordings are found in a junk yard, prompting an investigation in search of the band’s founders. What happens when the plot that caused the group’s disintegration threatens to take them down again? 
     

    SERGIO ARAU

    Celebrated filmmaker, artist, and musician, Sergio Arau was born in Mexico City . He is the writer/producer/director of the hit independent feature film “A Day Without a Mexican,” which was released in the USA on May 14 th , 2004 , and distributed by Televisa Cine. Sergio and his wife, writer/actress Yareli Arizmendi, have been the subject of national media attention for their roles in that controversial film. Sergio and Yareli have been written about in such major print media as the Wall Street Journal, the LA Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Associated Press; appeared on such major media as National Public Radio’s “Marketplace” show, and San Francisco’s top rated talk shows “The Dog House” and “The Chui Gomez” morning shows; and been the subjects of stories airing on such major TV media as CNN, CBS News with Dan Rather, and the Fox News Network’s “Hannity and Colmes” show, to name just some.

    Sergio received his MFA in Film Studies at the National School of Film (CUEC), Mexico City . A highly recognized visual artist and political cartoonist, he won the Coral De Plata award at the Havana Film Festival with his animated short “El Muro”/”The Wall” (2001.)

    An accomplished musician as well, Sergio formed Botellita De Jerez (1983) a group that focused humor and Mexican traditional music with the contemporary sounds of rock’n’roll.

    In 1998, Sergio won the MTV Award for Café Tacuba’s “Alarmala De Tos” (a song Botellita had made famous ten years before.) Arau’s group is considered the precursor of the “Rock-en’ Espanol” movement. Among his many awards, Sergio’s comic strip “El Muro” received first prize at the XVIII International Salon of Cartoons ( Montreal , Canada ) and his cartoon “El Preso” received first honors at the Bi-Annual House of Humor in Gabrovo , Bulgaria . Sergio coined the phrase “ART-NACO,” which is still a style emulated by many of today’s most popular artists. His paintings adorn the homes of some of Mexico ‘s elite artists and politicians.

    In 1985, Sergio opened “Rockotitlan,” Mexico ‘s first “Rock-en” Espanol” nightclub. In 1990, his book “La Netafisica” (a collection of his cartoons and illustrations) was published, and in 1992, he founded his “Heavy-Mex” group “La Venganza De Moctezuma.”

    In 1994, Sergio produced and directed the video for his own hit song, “Oajo Sin Brujul” and gained a reputation as a film director/producer. He went on to create videos for such diverse groups as Café Tacuba, El Gran Silencio, Banda Maguey, Grupo Mojado, and Jose Manuel Figueroa, among others. In 1998, Sergio wrote, produced, and directed (along with Yareli,) the mockumentary shot film “A Day Without a Mexican,” a project commissioned by the Fine Arts Museum of Chicago. That same year, he also won the MTV Award – Best Rock Video, for directing Café Tacubs’s “Alarmala De Tos” (a song composed by Arau.) In 1999, “Casas y Gente” Magazine stated that Sergio Arau was “destined to be the painter of the next millennium.” The Conga Room nightclub in Los Angeles , has commissioned two of his art pieces as décor for their facility.

  • installation by Jasmin Lim

    Lim creates sculptural photographs that explore the mechanics of perception and the ways the mind distorts and obscures raw visual information to conceptualize the world. Her work seeks to draw attention to this mediated experience.

    With this installation, Lim has used as a sample case study the saga of JT LeRoy, homeless youth turned author, who was eventually revealed to be a persona created by writer Laura Albert. JT was an avatar with a dual purpose: to articulate the traumas she could not directly express, and to interface with the public, which she could not personally engage. Since Laura’s identity was revealed in 2006, she has been repeatedly vilified in the media.

    The installation questions the fixed meanings and rigid thinking that limit our perception, comparing Laura’s artistic gesture to a variable in a complex, unresolved algorithm. It combines texts with images directly connected to Laura/JT, and positions them beside other social commentaries on the construction of identity and the nature of truth.

    In conjunction with this installation is a personal appearance by Laura Albert, who will join Jasmin Lim for a discussion moderated by SF Camerawork curator, Chuck Mobley, at ATA on Wednesday, August 24 at 7 PM.

  • 3rd i Queer Eye: Flying with One Wing

    3rd i puts on its queer eye again this summer! Join us for a weekend of films and performances celebrating LGBT stories from contemporary Sri Lanka to ancient India.

    Flying with One Wing; Asoka Handagama (Sri Lanka, 2002, 81mins)
    In anticipation of a focus on Sri Lanka at our annual festival this November, 3rd i’s reaches back into its vault to bring this festival favorite from 2003. Undoubtedly one of the the most revolutionary films to come out of South Asia, Flying With One Wing, is an engaging parable of a person creating a life amidst a culture that deems their existence criminal. The film captures the reality of women living in present day Sri Lanka and addresses gender politics in a male dominated society from a novel perspective. Flying With One Wing is an edgy, gender-altering story that manages to remain lighthearted and humorous despite the building tensions that culminate with unexpected results. In short, a Sri Lankan cross between Fassbinder and Boys Don’t Cry.

    For more information on the performances at The Women’s Building on August 28, 2011 please visit:
    www.thirdi.org