Texas Monday Music Documentary Series

Brasil and MECA present the Texas Monday Music Documentary Series.

For October’s Monday Music Documentary Series Estevan Azcona Ph.D. is the curator. Azcona is the Performance and Residency Director & Music Director of Multicultural Education & Counseling through the Arts (MECA). 

MECA is a community-based non-profit organization committed to the healthy development of underserved youth and adults through arts and cultural programming, academic excellence, support services, and community building. MECA provides arts education, support services, and multicultural artistic performances and events to over 4,000 students and their families each year, helping to build discipline, self-esteem, and cultural pride.

Known to most Houstonians as the school that creates a new generation of Mariachi players and Ballet Folklorico dancers, this series is a peak into the sorts of films that inspire and resonate with the programming that MECA does.

SCHEDULE OF OCTOBER SCREENINGS:

Monday October 10
“Chulas Fronteras” / Directed by Les Blank (1976) (pictured above)
English and Spanish (subtitles)
A complex, insightful look at the Chicano experience as mirrored in the lives and music of the most acclaimed Norteño musicians of the Texas-Mexican border, including Flaco Jimenez and Lydia Mendoza. Video includes bonus feature, Del Mero Corazon. This film was selected by The Library Of Congress to be added to the National Film Registry list, of the 400 motion pictures to be preserved in perpetuity.

Monday October 17
“Songs of the Homeland” / Directed by Hector Galán (1995)
English
Filmed on location throughout Texas, Songs of the Homeland tells the story of Tejano Music. This critically acclaimed documentary features images of the past and present and includes performances and interviews with musical pioneers such as Tony de la Rosa, Valerio Longoria, Lydia Mendoza, Isidro Lopez, Sunny Ozuna, Mingo Saldivar, and Little Joe Hernandez. Produced by Award Winning Filmmaker Hector Galan, Songs of the Homeland is an exuberant journey into the heart and soul of Tejano music.

Monday October 24
“Accordion Dreams” / Directed by Hector Galán (2001)
English
Accordion Dreamswas screened throughout the country including CineFestival of San Antonio, SXSW of Austin, the Los Angeles Latino Film Festival, CineSol Latino Film Festival, the Dallas Video Festival. A special screening was held at the historic La Villita DanceHall in San Benito, Texas and at the Great Plains Film Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska. Accordion Dreams was honored as the “best film to explicate the Latino/ethnic heritage of the Great Plains Region” with the prestigious “Rainbow Award”.