User:Dlopez19

Gustavo Vazquez

Biography:

Gustavo Vazquez was born in March 1954 in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Being one out of ten children, he was born into a family that did not have an abundant amount of money. Vazquez was fortunate enough to know what he wanted to do with his life at the young age of 14: cinema. Part of the reason that influenced his decision was that no one in his family was part of the film industry. He started off painting during the Chicano Movement. He attended college in San Francisco and there received his Bachelors of Fine Arts (B.F.A) and his Masters of Arts (M.A.). “He has been teaching in the Bay Area for 30 years”. His teaching interests are video production design and documentary and experimental narratives, and new modes of video exhibition. Vazquez is currently a professor and department Chair of the Film and Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Education:

Studied at the San Francisco Art Institute from 1977-1979 from which he graduated with a B.F.A. (Bachelor of Fine Arts). While in the San Francisco Art Institute he studied artistic photography, later focusing on cinema. He later studied at San Francisco State University from which he graduated with a Masters.

Films:

Vazquez has “directed over thirty productions, including video installations, documentaries, and drama”. After graduating from the San Francisco Art Institute, Vazquez began a series in the 1980s that took place in Michoacan, which is based on the Governor Cardenas. Some of his work has consisted of making independent films for ten years. He had the opportunity and the privilege to direct an installation, “Who Am I?”, that would be exhibited and would be toured in the big and well-known museums across the United States in 2001 for five years. “In his work we find a conceptual fusion of the opposite realities in class, culture, language by integrating diverse elements to illustrate the marginal and dominant paradigms”.

Inspiration & Setting:

His inspiration for making films comes primarily from identification, he identifies with the characters of his films. He considers his characters to be non-conventional, those who are rebels, dreamers, and those who are from working class. He likes to work with people who are passionate and like to follow their hearts, “Archetypes not stereotypes”.These are themes that are of interest to him when it comes to producing his films. The inspiration for the setting in his films comes from his surroundings, he likes to be able to see everything that is present and that might be neglected or overlooked. He is not afraid of being in places that are at poverty level, he likes small towns, nature, the desert, the forest, mountains, and places that are mystic.

Personal Life:

Vazquez is married and has three sons a musician, a poet, and a writer. His wife is a singer, dancer, speaks various languages, and is currently learning how to play the accordion. Vazquez also speaks various languages, which consists of speaking Spanish, Portuguese, Spanglish, Mexican, Chilean, Puerto Rican, and English. Since he comes from the working class in his films/documentaries he portrays the working class in a dignified manner. He believes that artist never go into retirement, it is a foreign concept to him.

Interests:

Vazquez likes to travel, specifically to Third World countries and prefers it more than traveling to Europe. He has traveled all of the Amazon, Brazil, Peru, Bali, Mexico, and Thailand. In the near future he would like to travel to Cuba, Haiti, the Caribbean, Africa, and the Dominican Republic. He likes to meet people and learn about other cultures. One of the things that he wishes he had more time for is reading. He likes films to be heartfelt, “del corazon” y de la “conciencia humana”, films that are poetic and political. In terms of music, he likes rancheras, indigenous, punk, liberachi, Los Xochimilcas, Frank Zappa, and Agustin Lara.

Quotes:

'When asked about the film industry'

-“El futuro del cine Chicano no es tocar las puertas de Hollywood, hay un cine fuerte que viene en camino, hecho por jovenes que quieren tener una voz fuerte y honesta, no definida por un mercado”

-“Hollywword es un obstaculo porque quiere cine para vender”

-“La motivacion de ser arte o decir las cosas no debe ser por un mercado sino por ideas”

'When asked about culture:'

-“Los valores de la cultura no se miden con dinero”

-“El poder es bicultural, bilingue. Uno entra y participa en esos universos”

-“Lenguajes sociales---puedes hablar el mismo idioma y no hablar el mimos lenguaje. Es una llave para entrar a un espacio de culturas dentro de una culture”

Recognitions and Awards:

He won an award for his 2007 film “Que Viva La Lucha”. He has been a recipient of two major awards for his achievements in film: The Rockefeller Media Fellowship Award and the Eureka Visual Artist Fellowship from the Fleishhacker Foundation. He is a co-author of Documentary Filmmaking: A Contemporary Field Guide, published by Oxford University Press in February 2009. “Vazquez recently teamed up with Ant Farm collective founder Chip Lord for a cinematic exploration of Mexico City in El Zocalo”

List of Films

1. “Que Viva La Lucha (Wrestling in Tijuana)”. Documentary 2007.

2. “Glance” Nine Channel video installation, automated and live performances in collaboration with music composer Guillermo Galindo. ISEA 2006.

3. “Who Am I?” Five channel video installation Chicano Now exhibit. 2001.

4.“The Great Mojado Invasion” experimental video 1999.

5. Performance Art video co-created with Guillermo Gomez-Peña.

6. Documentado/ Undocumented Art object, cabinet of curiosities, book and video – performance

7. Video installation: Corrientes/ Undercurrents