EDUCATION

Ph.D, UCLA Cinema and Media Studies, Summer 2009
Dissertation: “‘A Theater Worthy of Our Race’: The Exhibition and Reception of  Spanish Language Film in Los Angeles, 1911-1942” Advisor: Professor Chon Noriega
Exams: American Film History, Contemporary Film Theory, Historiography, Cultural Studies, National Cinemas, and Experimental Film (awarded distinction)

M.A., UCLA Cinema and Media Studies, 2004

B.A., University of New Mexico, Media Arts Program, 2002
Major in Media Arts with a concentration in Issues of Ethnicity

B.A., University of Texas at Austin, 1997
Major in Spanish with a concentration in Literature and a minor in French

AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS

Dissertation Awards
•             UCLA Graduate Division Dissertation Year Fellowship, 2008-2009
•             UCLA Graduate Research Mentorship Fellowship, 2007-2008
•             UCLA Latin American Institute Doctoral Student Research Grant, 2006-2007

Departmental and University Awards
•             Eugene Cota Robles Fellowship (full tuition, fees and stipend), 2004-2007
•             UCLA Summer Research Mentor Fellowship, Summer 2005
•             McRae Award (Outstanding Senior Student), College of Fine Arts, University of New Mexico, 2001-2002
                 

PUBLICATIONS

Essays
•             “‘The War of the Accents’: The Reception of Hollywood Spanish Language Films in Los Angeles,” Film History 20, no. 3 (2008): 325-343.
•             “Vex Marks the Spot: The Intersection of Art and Punk in East Los Angeles.” In Vexing: Female Voices from East L.A. Punk [exhibition catalog].  Claremont, CA: Claremont Museum of Art, 2008.
•             “The Sign of Death and the Birth of a Genre: Aztec Horror Films in Context.” In Sleaze Artists: Cinema at the Margins of Taste, Style, and Financing. Edited by Jeffery Sconce. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2007.
•             “‘Gangs Gone Wild’: Low-Budget Gang Documentaries and the Aesthetic of Exploitation.” Velvet Light Trap 60 (2007): 37-46.

Book reviews
•             “William David Estrada’s The Los Angeles Plaza: Sacred and Contested Space.” Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies (Spring 2009), forthcoming.
•             “Boricua Pop: Puerto Ricans and the Latinization of American Culture, Frances Negrón-Mutaner.” Film Quarterly vol. 61, no. 1 (Fall 2007): 76-77.
•             “Rogelio Agrasánchez Jr.s’ Mexican Movies in the United States: A History of the Films, Theaters and Audiences, 1920-1960.” Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies vol. 32, no. 2 (Fall 2007): 227-9.

RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS

American Film History, Chicano/Latino Art, Chicano/Latino Film and Media, Chicano/Latino Music Cultures, Chicano/Latino Print Culture, Cultural Studies, Documentary, Exploitation Films, Film Genres, Globalization, Historiography, Latin American Cinema, Latinos and Urban Space, Media Exhibition and Reception, Mexican Cinema, National Cinemas, Latin American Cinema, and Third World Cinema.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Teaching Assistant/Associate
•             History of the American Motion Picture, UCLA Cinema and Media Studies, 2007
•             African, Asian and Latin American Cinema, UCLA Cinema and Media Studies, 2006
•             Film and Social Change, UCLA Cinema and Media Studies, 2003-2005
•             History of the American Motion Picture, UCLA Cinema and Media Studies, 2003
•             Latin American Cinema, University of New Mexico, 2002
•             Film Noir, University of New Mexico, 2002

EDITORIAL, CURATORIAL AND RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Editorial

Associate Editor, A Ver: Revisioning Art History monograph series, 2009

Arts Projects Coordinator, UCLA Chicano Studies Center, 2008
Supervised the publication of the following book series:
•             A Ver: Revisioning Art History: a series of monographs dedicated to individual Chicano and Latino artists.
•             The Chicano Archives: individual publications on the arts and cinema collections housed at the CSRC.

Editor
•             Kristen, Guzmán.  Self Help Graphics & Art: Art in the Heart of East L.A.  Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, 2005. Winner of the International Latino Book Award for Best Reference Book in English.

Developmental Editor
•             Constance Cortez, Carmen Lomas Garza, Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, forthcoming.
•             Juan Martínez, María Brito. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, forthcoming.
•             Karen Mary Davalos. The Mexican Museum. UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, forthcoming.
•             Karen Mary Davalos. Yolanda M. López. UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, 2008.
•             Max Benavidez. Gronk. UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, 2007.

Peer reviewer
•             Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
•             Mediascape: Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, UCLA Cinema and Media Studies

Curatorial

Co-curator
Vexing: Female Voices of East L.A. Punk, Claremont Museum of Art, Claremont, CA, 2008.  Multimedia exhibition dedicated to the East L.A. art and music scenes, 1979-1984. Accompanied by a catalog.

Curator
México! México! Rock! Rock! Rock!, John Anson Ford Amphitheater, Los Angeles, CA, 2007.  A one-night event examining the legacy of Mexican rock from the late 1950s and early 1960s, including the screening of the film Al ritmo de twist (1962), a live performance by band Girl in a Coma, an art exhibition, and a panel discussion.

Programming Director
Latin American Cinemateca of Los Angeles, 2006-2008
Supervised the conceptual development and production of film series and screenings presented by the Cinemateca and the generation of proposals for fundraising purposes.

Organizing Committee Member
Transitory Público/Public Tránsitorio, 2007
A series of public discussions, workshops, and performances with interventionist art groups, artists, and educators from throughout Latin America and Los Angeles.

Research and Archival

Graduate Student Researcher
UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, 2004-2007
•             Served as the liaison and onsite archivist for the UCLA Community Partnership Program between the CSRC and Self Help Graphics & Art.
•             Facilitated the donation of the papers of artist Gronk to the CSRC.
•             Developed digital archive of Chicano/Latino punk culture in Los Angeles.
•             Assisted in the production of DVD releases in the Chicano Cinema and Media Arts Series, including Efraín Gutierrez’s Please Don’t Bury Me Alive and a forthcoming anthology of work by experimental filmmaker Willie Varela.

Researcher
Veranda Distribution, Los Angeles, CA, 2005-2006
Provided research support and consultation for company packaging Mexican films for distribution on US television.

Archival Intern
Center for the Study of Political Graphics, Los Angeles, CA, 2005

PAPERS PRESENTED

•             “‘Fashionable Charros and Chinas Poblanas’: Nationalism and Mexican Cinema in 1930s Los Angeles,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies, March 9, 2008.
•             “‘Es Preferible Mejor no Hablar/Perhaps It’s Best Not to Speak’: The Reception of Hollywood Spanish Language Films in Los Angeles,” Media History: What Are the Issues?, University of Texas at Austin, October 13, 2007.
•             “Reconsidering the National: Mexican Film Exhibition in Los Angeles,” Symposium on Mexican Cinema, UCLA, March 10, 2006.
•             “Real Women Have Curves and the Contours of Latino Independent Film Production,” Lecture at Cine Sin Fronteras Festival, Albuquerque, New Mexico, April 2003.
•             “Theatrical Adaptation and Recent Latino Independent Film,” Southwest Popular Culture Association,    Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 2003.

GUEST LECTURES AND PANELS

•             Moderator, “Alternative to the Club Circuit: The Vex and East L.A. Punk,” Federal Art Project, Los Angeles, CA, May 23, 2009
•             Moderator, “Regeneración: Drawing on Exile,” an artist talk with Willie Herrón and Harry Gamboa Jr., Federal Arts Project, Los Angeles, CA, May 16, 2009
•             “Notes on And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself,” Autry National Center, Los Angeles, CA, January 24, 2009
•             “Self Help Graphics and Community Arts in Los Angeles,” guest lecture with Armando Durón and Judy Baca for Eric Avila’s Chicano Studies 10A, UCLA, November 20, 2008
•             “An Introduction to Gronk,” guest lecture with Gronk for Eric Avila’s Chicano Studies 10A, UCLA, November 18, 2008

ACADEMIC COMMITTEES

Student Representative
•             College of Fine Arts Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, University of New Mexico, 2000-2002
•             Search Committee for Dean of College of Fine Arts, University of New Mexico, 2001-2002
•             Media Arts Student Advisory Council, University of New Mexico, 2001-2002

COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE

Script Reader
Sundance Institute/NHK Award, 2004 and 2006

Event Organizer
Señorita Extraviada/Mujeres de Juárez Benefit, Albuquerque, NM, 2002
A collaborative benefit screening that promoted awareness of the murders in Ciudad Juárez and raised money for victims’ families.

Event Organizer
Latin American Film Series, University of New Mexico, 2002

Constance Cortez, Carmen Lomas Garza, Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, forthcoming.

Juan Martínez, María Brito. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, forthcoming.

Karen Mary Davalos. The Mexican Museum. UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, forthcoming.

Karen Mary Davalos. Yolanda M. López. UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, 2008.

Max Benavidez. Gronk. UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, 2007.