FILMS/
CALAVERA HIGHWAY
Documentaries
USA, 2007, 88 minutes
SHOWTIMES
Sun, May 4 / 6:15 / Kabuki / CALA04K
Wed, May 7 / 1:00 / Kabuki / CALA07K
Thu, May 8 / 6:30 / PFA / CALA08P
CREDITS
- prod
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Evangeline Griego, Renee Tajima-Peña
- cam
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Jonathan Schell, Renee Tajima-Peña
- editor
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Johanna Demetrakas
- mus
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Brian Kirk, Sharon Smith
- source
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SAI Communications, P.O. Box 50344, Los Angeles, CA 90050. FAX: 323-221-6997. EMAIL: Tajimapena@aol.com
When Armando and Carlos Peña hit the road to return their mother Rose’s ashes to Texas, they embark on a profound journey, confronting a past haunted by her estrangement from her family as well as the specter of their missing father. The latter’s disappearance in 1954 coincided with the year the U.S. government launched Operation Wetback, a notorious program that forcibly deported more than a million Mexican nationals and Mexican Americans. Armando and Carlos travel through California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada and Texas to visit their five brothers, each of whom has been deeply affected by their fatherless childhood—Luis, a born-again Christian; Lupe, the brother who liked to party and drink too much; Raul, who turned down an art scholarship to get married; Robert, the eldest who quit school to go to work; and Junior, the youngest, and the son of Rose’s deceased second husband. The brothers discuss their childhood in Texas, picking cotton in the fields and participating in a school walkout in 1968. As they delve into their pasts, they find unexpected answers to questions about their family and themselves. Through verité footage, personal interviews and archival recordings, director Renee Tajima-Peña neatly explores the intertwining destinies of a complex woman and her seven sons.
—Chuleenan Svetvilas
This film is the Golden Gate Award winner for television documentary. Sponsored by Sundance Cinemas Kabuki.
