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“Yearning to Tell the Next Story . . .”
GUEST DIRECTOR: LEÓN ICHASO
The 17th Annual San Diego Latino Film Festival proudly salutes this year's Guest Director: León Ichaso. The festival is spotlighting his newest film, Paraiso that is both written and directed by him. As an accomplished film and television writer, producer and director since the 1970s, Ichaso has scores of film and TV works to his credit.
León Ichaso was born in Havana, Cuba in 1948 and arrived as a young man in New York City, with American rock ‘n roll to welcome him. But it was the freedom and vibrancy of the Latin music scene in the ‘70s that really grabbed a hold of him, awakening a longing for his roots. To be in New York as the Latin movement hit the streets, and Latinos went “from being busboys and waiters to becoming musicians that filled Madison Square Garden” were heady times. Ichaso calls himself an investigative filmmaker, and he’s documented the energy, poetry and vibe of the times in Piñero, starring Benjamin Bratt, also screening at SDLFF 17. El Cantante, starring Marc Antony and Jennifer Lopez, tells the harsh story of famed Puerto Rican salsero musician, Héctor Lavoe. The New York scene infused with the rhythms of Puerto Rico, are revealed in Crossover Dreams with Ruben Blades and Elisabeth Peña. Ichaso expresses the immigrant experience, many times as dreams turn to nightmares; and throughout his career he remains true to his art, authenticity and the spirit of independent films.
Ichaso directed such hit series as Miami Vice and Saturday Night Live. For HBO’s First Look, he created an autobiographical work, and The Making of El Cantante, 2007. He recently directed five episodes of TV’s The Cleaner in 2008-2009; and television works with Jimmy Smits in Cane, 2007; Peter Coyote in Execution of Justice, 1999; and he directed Wesley Snipes in the film, Sugar Hill in 1993, among others. León says that he’s always documenting lives that have
“fallen through the cracks, and those who have been forgotten!”
MACSD’s Frontera Filmmakers will be eager to learn from his life experiences, as Ichaso explores how he was “ambushed by filmmaking. It hunted me down.” Guest Director, León Ichaso, visually explores cultural identities, a sense of longing, and a persistence to communicate his roots through the art and craft of filmmaking.
(Hear Leon Ichaso's reflections in-depth on Maria Hinojosa's One-on One program for WGBH: Click here)
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Leon Ichaso's New Feature PARAISO to Screen at SDLFF 2010
Leon Ichaso (In San Diego March 19 & 20)
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