The Wall documentary will screen on July 17th at el Cine el Rey Theatre in McAllen (Cine El Rey, 311 South 17th St., McAllen, TX 78501) and July 18th at Guadalupe Theatre in San Antonio. Both showtimes at 8:00PM. The film will be followed by a Q&A with the director.

A new trailer of the film is up and our website has been redesigned and looks great! Please forward this email along to as many people as you can! Let’s all work together getting the message of the film out to as many people as possible.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly at info@thewalldocumentary.com
Thank you for your consideration and below is the press release for the film’s premiere.

Ricardo Martinez
Director

Synopsis

In 2006, Congress passed The Secure Fence Act calling for the construction of over 700 miles of fence along the US/Mexico border. Fueled by the War on Drugs and the debate on Immigration Reform, politicians jumped at the chance to “secure our borders”. They were not prepared for what followed.

Filmed over two years, The Wall, a feature documentary, chronicles the impact of constructing a border fence along the Southwest. From policy makers to citizens of border towns in Texas, Arizona, and California, the debate elevates as residents respond to having a fence built in their backyard.

Gloria Garza sat on her porch, in Granjeno, Texas. She was enjoying her stretch of land by the Rio Grande River, when a man from the Department of Homeland Security arrived with a piece of paper. He asked her to sign a letter granting permission to build a 25 foot wall on her property. She thought it was a joke.

In Nogales, Arizona, Sheriff Tony Estrada, completed his routine check of the border wall. Since the border fence had been built, violence and immigrant deaths are steadily rising. This is not a policy he could believe in, but few were listening.

Determined to stop immigrant crossing, the Minutemen had taken matters into their own hands. They patrolled the area intercepting immigrants and notifying border patrol. Armed with ammunition and an ideology, they openly advocated more fencing to help their objectives.

At the epicenter of this controversy, Wilfredo and Adan are undocumented immigrants with a lot at stake. Wilfredo is trying to get across the border and will have to pass several layers of fencing and security. Adan waits for his father who must make the same dangerous trip he himself took several years earlier. How will their lives be changed by The Wall?

Director, Ricardo Martinez brings The Wall to life; intertwining rare surveillance footage and controversial interviews. He and his crew often risked their own safety while filming.
At the forefront of the debate, the film includes commentary by The Texas Border Coalition, The Southwest Border Sheriff’s Coalition, No Border Wall Coalition, the Minutemen, Border Patrol officers, congressional hearings, and more.

A group of young adults who recently graduated from high school will be having a summer festival called “Sparks of Art”. This event will be the last chance for these young adults to showcase their art before heading off to college in the fall where they plan to pursue careers in similar creative fields. This festival will feature creative talents such as singing, dancing, bands, art, photography, poetry, fashion, arts & crafts and much more. When I asked Sarah Sparks what their motivation was to put on a show like this, she said that they wanted to show their community what today’s youth are passionate about and to gain the experience of showcasing their talents for a large group of people.

This is going to be a really fun, unique and exciting event that will showcase the talents of our youths. The show will have something for everyone, so mark your calendars for Monday, July 13th at 5pm at the McAllen Creative Incubator. For more information, please visit our website at www.mcallenart.com or contact Sarah Sparks at (956) 212-3329.

Exclusive 4th of July Event!
Art Expressions

Holiday Party, July 4, 2009

from 9 pm till 2 am

• DRINK SPECIALS !
• PATRIOTIC DISHES !
• LIVE READING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE !
• MUSIC BY ELIAS MONTEMAYOR and HOMER !

Art Expressions

301 N. Main Suite 2, McAllen, TX

For more information call 956-686-8161 or write a.expressions@yahoo.com.

STC Library Art Gallery at the Nursing & Allied Health Campus, 1101 E. Vermont Ave., McAllen, TX 78503 proudly presents “Monumental Ideas in Miniature Books” from June 18 to September 4, 2009.

“Monumental Ideas in Miniature Books” is an exhibit featuring a hundred and five hand-made mini artist books. Free and Open to the Public!

For more information call 956-872-3488, or visit http://lag.southtexascollege.edu

STC Library Art Gallery
“Art for Learning! Art for Life!”

South Texas Ceramic Showdown: Beyond the Vessel (Schedule)
UTPA Friday, June 12, 2009

9:00am – 12:00pm Clay Demonstrations at UTPA – free and open to the public
12:00pm – 1:30pm Lunch Break
1:30pm – 4:30pm Clay Demonstrations at UTPA
6:00pm – 8:00pm South Texas Ceramic Showdown Opening, UTPA’s Visitors Center
9:00pm – 11:00pm Potluck Social and Student/Community Slide Forum
STC Saturday, June 13, 2009

9:00am – 12:00pm Clay Demonstrations at STC – free and open to the public
12:00 pm – 1:30pm Lunch Break
1:30pm – 4:30pm Lectures/Slides and Power Points at STC

6:00pm– 8:00pm South Texas Ceramic Showdown Opening Reception, STC Library Art Gallery, (Pecan Campus)

South Texas College, together with The University of Texas Pan-American, is proud to present “A South Texas Ceramic Showdown: Beyond the Vessel,” which is the third annual Rio Grande Valley ceramics conference and exhibition. The event includes art lectures and ceramics demonstrations, as well as a full display of ceramics works by artists and professors from across Texas. The conference starts Friday, June 12 at The University of Texas-Pan American Ceramics Lab, concluding on Saturday, June 13 at STC’s Pecan Campus Art Bldg. B Ceramics Lab. Art Lectures will also take place Saturday at STC’s Pecan Campus Bldg. B Auditorium. All activities are free and open to the public.

“This is the third conference STC and UTPA have put together and we look forward to being enlightened by an ever younger generation of ceramic artists, discovering their creative, inspired approaches of pushing the boundaries of innovation,” said David Freeman, curator and programs coordinator of STC’s Library Art Gallery Program. “The show explores the influences of our Southern continental United States and its individual, extensive point of view regarding contemporary issues in the devolvement, expression, concept, personal exploration and experimentation of different processes and unique aesthetics in contemporary ceramics today.”

“We are excited to roll out the South Texas Ceramic Showdown once again and witness its evolution over the last three years,” said Chris Leonard, UTPA ceramics lecturer and conference organizer. “The concept is the same with both student and faculty work exhibited together with a promise for great diversity. The event is also a fantastic opportunity for ceramic students, as it offers an opportunity for creative interaction, and communication with our three presenting artists. All three presenting artists are tremendously versatile, but I am anticipating an acceptance of the ceramic tradition: vessels that transcend and push beyond mere function into all sorts of narration and possibility.”
The conference includes lectures and ceramic demonstrations by Aaron Calvert of Henderson State University, Charles Wissinger of Texas A&M University-Kingsville, and Fulden Sara-Wissinger of Texas A&M University-Kingsville and Coastal Bend College.

Half of the ceramic works will be exhibited at STC’s Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery with the balance being exhibited at UTPA’s Visitors Center. Exhibit opening receptions are on Friday, June 12th from 6 to 8 p.m. at UTPA’s Visitors Center and Saturday, June 13th from 6 to 8 p.m. at STC’s Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery. Admission is free and open to the public. The exhibits will be on view from June 1 to July 3, 2009 at their respective locations.

The exhibit features works by faculty and students from 11 universities and community colleges including The University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College, South Texas College, The University of Texas Pan-American, The University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Texas Tech University, The University of North Texas, Henderson State University, Tyler Junior College, and Tarrant County College.

For more information call 872-3488, E-mail libraryart@southtexascollege.edu or visit http://lag.southtexascollege.edu.

On May 2, ten teams started the cycle of making a five minute film in just 24 hours!

Eight teams completed scriptwriting, directing, acting, editing, etc. within that time. At a drawing before the teams started, the required elements were picked at random. For this particular race the required character was a nerd, the line of dialogue was “You had me at hello”, the prop was an umbrella, a character had to knock over a drink and the theme was twist of fate.

Director Marcel Rodriguez is looking for young actors for a variety of roles in his action/drama, “The Borderlanders”.

Rodriguez will be holding auditions Saturday, May 9th, 1pm to 6pm at the McAllen Chamber of Commerce, 1200 Ash Ave., McAllen, TX 78501, near 10th and Bus 83. Call (956) 682-2871 for more information.

He’s looking to fill the roles with Latino actors. Looking for an immigrant boy(age 15-18), his migrant girlfriend(age 15-20), his mother(age35-55), his two older brothers(17-25), a father(35-45), and a mother(35-45). He’s especially looking for the role of the young girlfriend and encourages females ages 15-20, brown to dark-complected preferred, to come out. A great role for a young female!

The movie is about an immigrant boy who is favored by his mother over his two older brothers. After her death, the two scorned brothers vent their wrath on the boy and chase him in their death-dealing Cadillac. Will be beautifully photographed. A real show piece. The director is also a cinematographer from Austin, Texas. Will be shot in the mid-Valley sometime in late May and early June.

Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund workshop, sponsored by the Austin Film Society, will meet  Saturday, May 16th from 3:00 to 4:30 pm at the McAllen Chamber of Commerce, 1200 Ash Ave, McAllen, TX 78541.

Since 1996, the Austin Film Society’s Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund has supported Texas filmmakers by giving out $930,000 in cash, goods and services to 265 film and video projects. The deadline for the 2009 cycle is June 1st and if you are a filmmaker who has resided in Texas for at least one year, you are eligible to apply for up to $15,000 in funding for your project.

At this workshop, the Austin Film Society’s Director of Artist Services, Bryan Poyser, will take you through the application process step-by-step.

For more information, contact:

Annabell Cortina
956-682-2871
acortina@mcallencvb.com

LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas – The Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) brings its new statewide traveling educational program, the Texas Film Round-Up, to the Cine El Ray in McAllen on Friday, May 15th from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., the Historic Brownsville Museum in Brownsville on Saturday, May 16th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and to the Rialto Theatre in Harlingen on Sunday, May 17th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Working to preserve Texas-related film and video, TAMI will be on-site at all locations to offer free film and video digitization, to screen unique footage of the Rio Grande Valley, and to display their traveling exhibit, Preserving Memories: Texas’ Moving Image Legacy.

The cornerstone of the Texas Film Round-Up is TAMI’s free digitization program, which is available to anyone with Texas-related film or video who is willing to contribute an electronic copy of their materials to TAMI’s online library: www.texasarchive.org/library. Donors can drop off their film and video at each Round-Up location. After digitization is complete, TAMI will return the originals to contributors, along with two DVD copies of their materials and information on how to keep those materials safe. TAMI will bring their digitization equipment to all locations to demonstrate the process.

The Texas Film Round-Up kicks off on Friday night in McAllen with a screening at the Cine El Ray theater. The evening will feature a series of border-themed films including shorts from the archive of the CineSol Film Festival, and highlights from TAMI’s archival collection. Screening starts at 8 p.m.

On Saturday, the Round-Up travels to Brownsville for the debut screening of the Historic Brownsville Museum’s “Snake King of Brownsville” footage at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The turn-of-the-century footage comes from a newsreel on Brownsville snake farmer W.A. King. The film suffered significant deterioration due to the unstable nature of nitrate film, but TAMI, the Library of Congress and the Historic Brownsville Museum have worked together to preserve the remaining film via digitization.

On Sunday, the Round-Up at Harlingen’s Rialto Theater will include screenings of footage from several area archives. The screenings will be offered in partnership with the Harlingen Arts and Heritage Museum.

The weekend’s programming will also include additional screenings and a family-friendly,
interactive exhibit. Newsreels, home movies, educational films and other materials from the TAMI collection relating to the Lower Rio Grande Valley will be screened throughout all three days. Participants will learn about Texas’ unique media history, the need for film and video preservation, and how to take care of media via TAMI’s Preserving Memories exhibit. The exhibit also features several interactive components and a guide for children.

The Texas Archive of the Moving Image is an independent non-profit organization founded in 2002 to discover, preserve and make accessible Texas film heritage. The Texas Film Round-up is offered in partnership with the Office of the Governor’s Texas Film Commission and will travel to Lubbock in July. The Valley Film Round-Up is also offered in partnership with the Harlingen Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, the Harlingen Arts and Heritage Museum, the CineSol
Film Festival, the Cine El Ray Theater, the Historic Brownsville Museum, the Agrasanchez Film Archive, the McAllen Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and the Rialto Theater.

More information on the Texas Film Round-Up can be found at www.texasfilmroundup.org or by contacting TAMI at (512) 485-3073 or round-up@texasarchive.org.

May 15, 2009
Cine El Ray
311 South 17th St., McAllen, TX 78501
6 p.m to 11 p.m.
8 p.m. – Featured Screening

May 16, 2009
The Historic Brownsville Museum
641 E. Madison St., Brownsville, TX78520
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
2 p.m. – Debut screening of the “Snake King of Brownsville” footage

May 17, 2009
The Rialto Theatre
103 W. Jackson St., Harlingen, TX 78520
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
2 p.m. – Special screening

Somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty people showed up Monday, April 27, at the Galeria 409 to hear Betsy Price, consultant Ken Mills and David Martin Davies of Texas Public Radio outline burgeoning plans for a new organization, Voices from the Valley, aimed at bringing more public and community radio to the Rio Grande Valley. Interest is wide, according to Price, and the Valley would benefit from a wider range of National Public Radio and other public broadcasting offerings.

Price outlined several areas of need. Local non-profits need support not currently being provided by KMBH, an operation of RGV Educational Broadcasting.  Calling the Valley the “most interesting place” she’d lived, She cited the new Brownsville Museum of Fine arts and the Childrens’ Museum of Brownsville as two examples of excellent institutions that could benefit from media coverage.

Davies pointed out the lack of local news coverage in current public radio offerings as one of the problems that a newer, healthier organization could provide. An audience member pointed out that during the most recent public crisis in the Valley, Hurricane Dolly, KMBH had shut down for several days rather than offer news and support to its listeners. His organization, Texas Public Radio, was in a position to offer several services to a new, more publicly oriented radio operation including providing NPR and TPR programming; advice on station operations cost controls; local news and weather reporting; local public affairs programs; help with fund raising, underwriting and grant writing; help with FCC issues; and engineering expertise.

Ken Mills, a public radio consultant with an extensive background in helping local organizations get off the ground, outlined the steps needed to build a new operation including establishing a 501-C-3 organization with a diverse board of directors, creating a station development plan and budget, setting fund raising goals–which he saw as a minimum of $30,000, beginning fund raising, and beginning to hire the contractor and specific personnel needed for specific tasks.

People attending responded enthusiastically. Price invited all interested in joining the effort to sign up at the Voices from the Valley Web site.

KMBH, the current public radio operation in the Valley, is experiencing several problems with funding and compliance with NPR standards, according to a March 16th article in Current magazine, which covers public broadcasting nation wide. Public support and funding have diminished over the last several years. Last year’s budget had a $666,000 deficit and required a million dollar loan to stay afloat.

In addition the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been investigating several controversies involving RGV Educational Broadcasting including the withholding of a Frontline segment critical of the handling of child abuse by priests in the Catholic Church. RGV Educational Broadcasting is wholly owned by the Diocese of Brownsville with Bishop Reymundo Peña as the sole member of the corporation, according to its incorporation papers.

-Stan Raines