Will Blood In, Blood Out finally make it into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress?
Anyone who thinks that the groundbreaking 1993 film and other Latino-driven movies such as Mi Vida Loca or Like Water for Chocolate should be included in the nation’s premier cultural collection has until Aug. 3 to send their nominations.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio) and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus today announced a nationwide call for nominations of Latino films to be added to the registry. Each year, the National Film Preservation Board selects 25 films to be included in an ongoing effort to preserve the nation’s cultural heritage.
In an announcement to media, Castro said, “As we launch this year’s push for inclusion, I look forward to hearing from folks across America about the Latino films that have made an enduring impact on their lives.”
CineFestival programmer Eugenio del Bosque said he would start by nominating American Me and Blood In, Blood Out, which was the centerpiece of this year’s festival on the occasion of the film’s 30-year anniversary.
“Those are in the collective memory. They’re in the subconscious of so many people,” Del Bosque said. His assertion is backed by a recent Los Angeles Times article about the enduring influence of Blood In, Blood Out, despite neglect from the Walt Disney Company, its producer.
Actor Jesse Borrego played the role of Cruz Candelaria in the film, an artist character he said was based on Chicano artists he knew from living in San Antonio — from Adán Hernández, who made the paintings used as props in the film, to Mel Casas and Jesse Treviño.
Borrego praised Castro’s and the Caucus’s advocacy for Latino culture, and said, “Thank god they’ve championed the idea of representation in one of the biggest information-sharing industries there is.”
Of Castro, he said, “He’s always utilized the Hispanic Caucus to talk about those issues. Because they do impact our society … they impact the identity of our people, and therefore the self-worth of our people.”
Castro’s office noted that while Latino communities represent 19% of the U.S. population, they account for 30% of movie ticket purchases, a disproportion he and his Hispanic Caucus colleagues hope to help correct by including more of the culture’s voices in the national collection.
Since the inception of the National Film Registry in 1988, 850 films have been selected for inclusion. As of today, just 24 Latino films are in the registry, a list that includes Selena, La Bamba, El Mariachi and other popular films.
Castro’s office has prepared a form to accept nominations from the public.
