Cinequest movies go on-line today

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Photo caption: Alexander Karim in THE DOG. Courtesy of Cinequest.

Beginning today, and thru midnight March 31, select films from this year’s Cinequest are now available to watch at home through Cinequest’s online festival Cinejoy. The price is less than ten bucks per movie, and you can watch all of them with a $50 pass,

There’s a Spotlight section where you can join others watching the film at the same time and participate in Q&A with the filmmakers. The films that I recommend are in the Cinejoy Showcase section, so you can watch them whenever convenient:

  • The Dog: This electrifying thriller follows a classic neo-noir premise. A low level hood is assigned to drive a call girl, and he falls for her – against the explicit instructions of their employer and advice from the call girl herself. To stake a new start in a faraway land, he reaches for the big score. Desperation results. What’s unusual about The Dog is that it’s exceptionally exciting and that it’s set in Mombasa, Kenya. There’s a wonderful low-speed tuk tuk chase (on three-wheel taxis) through Mombasa’s open air markets, street performers and herds of goats. And there’s another unforgettable scene that will be particularly uncomfortable for male audience members.
  • The Move In: In this Mexican drama, a couple moves into a new home and, the first night, think someone has broken in; it turns out to be only the clang of an old window, but it’s a really scary experience, and the man, heading off to defend them, suffers a panic attack. As they unwind from the incident, it appears like they can get past it, but can they? In his first feature, writer-director-producer RS Quintanilla gradually reveals more about the origin and underpinnings of their newish relationship, as the experience makes its mark . It’s a similar premise to Ruben Ostlund’s Force Majeure, but The Move In is more subtle and perhaps even better. This a profoundly clever screenplay, and The Move In is one of the very best films at Cinequest. World premiere.
  • Burt: The title character in this affecting dramedy is a an elderly street musician with Parkinson’s. Burt rents a room in the home of his landlord Steve, an ever-suspicious and oppositional guy who is Burt’s age. Nevertheless, Burt is relentlessly upbeat. A young man, Sammy, arrives with a letter from one of Burt’s youthful flames, explaining that Sammy is Burt’s son. Burt jumps into belated fatherhood with both feet, and then discovers that all is not what it seems. Director and co-writer Joe Burke, in his second feature, succeeds in getting fine performances from non-professional actors playing Burt and Steve. Executive produced by indie stalwart David Gordon Green (George Washington, All the Real Girls, Undertow). World premiere.
  • Alien: This mysterious Russian sci fi tale is set in the unfamiliar, remote Ural hinterlands. Lyosha, the local oddball, has a hearing disability, lives in his grandmother’s cabin on the edge of the settlement, and has built an impressive tower out of trash that he has collected. He has also jerrybuilt a radio system and made giant circles in the fields, all attempts to contact space aliens He is teased pitilessly by the village japesters. We later learn that the long ago disappearance of his mother has affected his psyche. A newcomer suddenly appears at his cabin – most certainly not looking like any space alien that Lyosha has imagined. Is this visitor just a runaway from another village, an emissary from deep in the universe, or a supernatural messenger from his mother? It’s all up in air as hostile villagers close in, all thew way to an unpredictable ending. US premiere.
  • Xibalba Monster: In this gentle, 76-minute tale, a pudgy Cuernavaca 10-year-old is sent off with his nanny for an extended visit in her remote Yucatan village. The affluent city kid is now in a poor community, tucked in the jungle with ancient Mayan ruins. He is now among the country kids, who do what kids do, completely unsupervised. He’s not been getting attention or affection from his widowed father, and he’s developed into a watchful, quietly curious kid with a gift for lying when convenient. He’s curious about mortality, and, throughout the story, reminders of death keep popping up – a highway accident, a museum with spooky artifacts, roadkill, a cemetery, local tall tales and more. Still, Xibalba Monster is decidedly not scary and captures the way that kids play and imagine. Adults will enjoy it, as will kids from middle school up. US premiere.
  • Boutique: To Preserve and Collect: This infectious documentary is about passion – passion that fuels the preservation and rejuvenation of cult cinema. We’re mostly talking about exploitation movies that would otherwise be lost. Much the credit for saving them goes to Severin Films and Vinegar Syndrome, which are essentially the Criterion Collection for grindhouse cinema. Both companies evolved from aficionados making bootleg tapes of their favorite obscure films into legitimate catalogues of preserved films. You may not think that a certain movie is IMPORTANT, but there is probably someone who finds it absolutely ESSENTIAL. Many movies have been made to be disposable, but have inspired loyal fans. One person’s drive-in may be another’s arthouse. What makes Boutique: To Preserve and Collect fun to watch is the contagious enthusiasm of the devotees. US premiere
  • American Agitators: This is the important story of legendary organizer Fred Ross, the mentor of Cesar Chavez, and essentially a saint of the social justice movement. American Agitators shows Ross being formed by the Great Depression and the left-wing politics, the union movement and the New Deal. This extraordinarily well-sourced doc rolls out Ross’ legacy today, not just Chavez the icon and the Farmworkers movement, but the influence of Fred Ross, Jr. and organizing campaigns in 2025. LOCAL INTEREST: Fred Ross met Chavez at Cesar’s home at 53 Sharff Avenue in San Jose, hired Cesar as his deputy and organized out of McDonnell Hall at Our Lady of Guadalupe on East Antonio Street.  Cesar’s son Paul (of San Jose) appears in the film as does Luis Valdes of Teatro Campesino, who has also had a significant presence in San Jose. World premiere.
  • A Little Fellow: The Legacy of A.P. Giannini: Here’s an underdog story – a boy loses his immigrant father, starts out impoverished and builds the nation’s largest bank, helping to rebuild San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. This very comprehensive documentary also tells the less well-known story of Giannini as movie financier – backing films like City Lights, Gone with the Wind and Sleeping Beauty. LOCAL INTEREST: Giannini’s childhood began in San Jose, his father was murdered in Alviso, and his first bank branch building still stands, only 1500 feet from the Cinequest screening at the Hammer Theatre..  US Premiere.
  • Silent Sparks: In this Taiwanese neo-noir, small time hood Pua is released from prison and checks in with the swaggering, exuberant local crime lord. The boss assigns him to a lieutenant, Mi-Ji, who happens to be Pua’s former cell-mate. But when Pua and Mi-Ji meet again, the encounter is a study in social awkwardness. Pua just wants to start earning money and working his way up in the syndicate, but Mi-Ji is surprisingly unhelpful. What explains Mi-Ji’s behavior toward Pua? As Silent Sparks smolders on, the risks escalate. Promising first feature for writer-director Ping Chu. US premiere.
  • In a Wintry Season:  This heartfelt and intoxicating documentary starts out looking like a fairy tale, and unpredictably turns decidedly not, as the real world and human behavior intervene.  I generally resist filmmakers profiling their own parents, but In a Wintry Season won me over with its candor, authenticity and surprises.  It’s a relatable story of two people and their family and their times, but it brings us into a meditation on what is American Catholicism today.  With its very sweet ending, In a Wintry Season will be a crowd=pleaser at Cinequest. US Premiere.

These are all good, but don’t miss The Dog and The Move In.

Florencia Rios and Noé Hernández in THE MOVE IN. Courtesy of Cinequest.

Wrapping up Cinequest

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Photo caption: Florencia Rios and Noé Hernández in THE MOVE IN. Courtesy of Cinequest.

Here are the Cinequest 2025 films that I hadn’t written about yet in my The Best of Cinequest:

  • The Move In: In this Mexican drama, a couple moves into a new home and, the first night, think someone has broken in; it turns out to be only the clang of an old window, but it’s a really scary experience, and the man, heading off to defend them, suffers a panic attack. As they unwind from the incident, it appears like they can get past it, but can they? In his first feature, writer-director-producer RS Quintanilla gradually reveals more about the origin and underpinnings of their newish relationship, as the experience makes its mark. It’s a similar premise to Ruben Ostlund’s Force Majeure, but The Move In is more subtle and perhaps even better. This a profoundly clever screenplay, and The Move In is one of the very best films at Cinequest. World premiere.
  • Xibalba Monster: In this gentle, 76-minute tale, a pudgy Cuernavaca 10-year-old is sent off with his nanny for an extended visit in her remote Yucatan village. The affluent city kid is now in a poor community, tucked in the jungle with ancient Mayan ruins. He is now among the country kids, who do what kids do, completely unsupervised. He’s not been getting attention or affection from his widowed father, and he’s developed into a watchful, quietly curious kid with a gift for lying when convenient. He’s curious about mortality, and, throughout the story, reminders of death keep popping up – a highway accident, a museum with spooky artifacts, roadkill, a cemetery, local tall tales and more. Still, Xibalba Monster is decidedly not scary and captures the way that kids play and imagine. Adults will enjoy it, as will kids from middle school up. US premiere.
  • Boutique: To Preserve and Collect: This infectious documentary is about passion – passion that fuels the preservation and rejuvenation of cult cinema. We’re mostly talking about exploitation movies that would otherwise be lost. Much the credit for saving them goes to Severin Films and Vinegar Syndrome, which are essentially the Criterion Collection for grindhouse cinema. Both companies evolved from aficionados making bootleg tapes of their favorite obscure films into legitimate catalogues of preserved films. You may not think that a certain movie is IMPORTANT, but there is probably someone who finds it absolutely ESSENTIAL. Many movies have been made to be disposable, but have inspired loyal fans. One person’s drive-in may be another’s arthouse. What makes Boutique: To Preserve and Collect fun to watch is the contagious enthusiasm of the devotees. US premiere
  • A Little Fellow: The Legacy of A.P. Giannini: Here’s an underdog story – a boy loses his immigrant father, starts out impoverished and builds the nation’s largest bank, helping to rebuild San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. This very comprehensive documentary also tells the less well-known story of Giannini as movie financier – backing films like City Lights, Gone with the Wind and Sleeping Beauty. LOCAL INTEREST: Giannini’s childhood began in San Jose, his father was murdered in Alviso, and his first bank branch building still stands, only 1500 feet from the Cinequest screening at the Hammer Theatre..  US Premiere.
  • Nora: A singer-songwriter (Anna Campbell, who also wrote and directed) leaves the music industry to return to her hometown, along with her precocious six-year-old daughter. Her confidence rocked by her life changes, she is now the new gal in a society run by her former high school classmates. Her feelings are reflected in her songs, dropped in throughout the movie, and Campbell shows a knack for directing music videos. Campbell’s screenplay genuinely captures the vulnerabilities of solo parenting and career change. Two of the characters are unrealistically perfect, but Campbell resists the cliche of having Nora hook up with the guy. The kid actor, Sophie Mara Baaden, is very good. The songs, written by Noah Harmon, are outstanding. World premiere.
  • The Bitter Tears of Zahra Zand: Having fled the Islamic Revolution of 1979, recently divorced and going broke, a famous Iranian fashion designer is trying to maintain her former lifestyle in London. She tends to narcissism and extravagance, which makes for character-driven humor. The designer is wonderfully played by Iranian poet Boshra Dastournezhad (so good in Radio Dreams), who co-write the screenplay. It’s basically a remake of Fassbinder’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant.
  • 1 + 1 + 1, Life, Love, Chaos: In this awkwardly titled Quebecois comedy, an author suffering from writer’s block takes her on-and-off boyfriend and her teen daughter for a secluded week at her aunt’s country cabin. As she battles with her self-confidence, the situations struck me as contrived in a sit-commy way, but the protagonist’s narration of her inner dialogue is a hoot. World premiere.
  • The Courageous: In this Swiss drama, a mom lives on the margins with her kids. She admittedly has no good choices, but she takes increasing risks to provide for the kids. The film is well-acted and well-shot, but it intends to depict the mom as rebellious and individualistic, when she is actually endangering her children’s welfare and long-term futures. Instead of rooting for the mom, audience members will want to call Swiss Child Protective Services.
  • The Summer Book: An elementary school-age girl and her father, struggling with the death of her mother, spend the summer at her grandmother’s home on a tiny Finnish island. The grandmother (Glenn Close) always knows the right thing to do or say as the girl heals and comes of age. This is an adaptation of the 1972 novel by Finnish-Swedish author Tove Jansson, which is reputedly a great read.  Unfortunately, its literary merit isn’t translated to the screen. Close’s fine performance can’t save this slog. I checked the time after nothing had happened in the first 31 minutes, and decided to keep watching in case it turned out to be the most boring film I had ever seen. That most boring film ever remains Le Quattro Volte, but The Summer Book is a contender.
Manuel Irene in XIBALBA MONSTER. Courtesy of Cinequest.

IN A WINTRY SEASON: a fairy tale, interrupted

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IN A WINTRY SEASON. Courtesy of Cinequest.

The heartfelt and intoxicating documentary In a Wintry Season starts out looking like a fairy tale, and unpredictably turns decidedly not, as the real world and human behavior intervene. 

Writer-director Mary Posatko tells the increasingly unpredictable story of her parents. I generally resist filmmakers profiling their own parents, but In a Wintry Season won me over with its candor, authenticity and surprises.  It’s a relatable story of two people and their family and their times, but it brings us into a meditation on what is American  Catholicism today.  Very sweet ending.

I screened In a Wintry Season for its US premiere at Cinequest, where I predict it will be a crowd-pleaser.

GUNMAN: trying to outrun a frame

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Sergio Podeley in GUNMAN. Courtesy of Cinequest.

The hyper-kinetic Argentine neo-noir Gunman (Gatillero) kicks off when the small time gunsel Galgo (Sergio Podeley) returns from prison and learns that the neighborhood drug gangs find him expendable. He immediately finds himself framed for a gangland assassination and goes on the run in a 75-minute, real-time thrill ride.

This is a cops-and-robbers story with no cops. The police are corrupt and stay out of the gang territory, so Galgo is trapped between two gang factions and neighborhood vigilantes – all armed to the teeth and trigger-happy.

As the prey in a midnight man hunt, Galgo’s dash for survival is captured by a handheld camera in shots of very long duration. If you liked Run, Lola, Run or Victoria, you’ll love Gunman.

Prisons are full of guys with bad impulse control, and Galgo is anything but strategic; he is, however, canny enough to recognize when he is being set up. He has some has gangster skills, which he needs as he careens through the hood, We’re certainly not thinking that he’s headed for redemption.

This is a genre film, but also is a real cinematic achievement. Gunman is an amazing first feature for director and co-writer, Cris Tapia Marchiori, and an unforgettable achievement for Marchiori and his veteran cinematographer Martin Sapia.

Based on a true story and shot in its actual setting, the drug-plagued Buenos Aires neighborhood of Isla Maciel, Gunman is brimming with verisimilitude.

As Galgo, Sergio Podeley is in almost every shot, and is believable as the impulsive and increasingly desprate Galgo. Susana Varela is compelling as Nilda, the community’s matriarch and moral center.

I screened Gunman for its US premiere at Cinequest.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Robert Pattinson in MICKEY 17. Courtesy of Warner Bros.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Mickey 17, Chaos: The Manson Murders and Bob Trevino Likes It. And my Cinequest coverage continues.

Next week: Art for Everybody, the dark biodoc of the “Painter of Light,” Thomas Kinkade.

Note: The Brutalist is now renting from the VOD platforms for under ten dollars.

CURRENT MOVIES

ON TV

Turhan Bey and Lynn Bari in THE SPIRITUALIST.

Here’s a rarity – on March 23, Turner Classic Movies brings us The Spiritualist (also The Amazing Mr. X), a 1948 B-picture that I hadn’t heard of until I saw it at last year’s Noir City at Oakland. It’s only 78 minutes long, and it’s a lot of fun. A cunning phony psychic (Turhan Bey) has convinced a wealthy widow that he can communicate with the dead, and she’s moved him into her mansion. Her world-wise daughter (Cathy O’Donnell) isn’t buying his act. But, while he is a con artist, he’s a really, really skilled one, and he pulls off illusion after illusion to keep the gullible widow believing – it’s like watching a magic show. The Spiritualist was shot by John Alton, one of the two greatest film noir cinematographers, and he makes the mansion extra spooky and the tricks extra sinister.

This was a rare leading role for Turhan Bey, and he makes a very charismatic charlatan, oozing suave charm and faux authority. Bey, an Austrian with a Turkish father and a Jewish Czechoslovakian mother, knocked around Hollywood playing exotic characters and never getting the lead in an A-picture. He has a very interesting Wikipedia page.

Cathy O’Donnell, Turhan Bey and Lynn Bari in THE SPIRITUALIST.

BOB TREVINO LIKES IT: without dad’s encouragement, she’s stuck

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Photo caption: Barbie Ferreira and John Leguizamo, in BOB TREVINO LIKES IT. Courtesy of Roadside Attractions.

In Bob Trevino Likes It, one those adult coming of age stories that have become increasingly common increasingly common, twenty-something Lily (Barbie Ferreira) is stuck. She’s going nowhere in her career and her social life, and she just doesn’t envision herself as deserving the good things that anyone would want.

When we meet her father (French Stewart), we begin to understand why. Lily’s Dad is so self-absorbed that he only interacts with Lily when he sees her as a useful prop in his dating life. Hehasn’t romoted any sense of self-esteem in his daughter; his contribution is more like anti-self esteem. Still, she gets despondent when he overtly and cruelly rejects her.

When Lily searches for her dad’s name on Facebook, Robert Trevino, she finds lots of men with the same name, including a contractor who lives a couple hours away. Some online interactions grow into a cyber friendship, and then they meet in person. This Bob Trevino (John Leguizamo) is a really nice guy.

Lily is getting the interest, support and counsel from Bob that, ideally, one would get from one’s father. Lily wants to plunge headlong into a situation where Bob becomes her surrogate father. Bob is kind, but reticent about getting in too deep. The audience learns what Bob doesn’t reveal to Lily – Bob’s own grievous loss and the major stresses from his family and his job.

This is a heartfelt, if simplistic, story, and it’s a weeper.

It’s entirely believable that such a chosen family could result from an encounter on today’s social media, and, indeed, the film bears a title, “inspired by a true story“. Bob Trevino Likes It was written and directed by Tracie Laymon in her first feature.

John Leguizamo is very good in a role as a very decent man who is emotionally contained and suffers the burdens of other people’s issues. So is French Stewart as a less complicated character – Stewart does narcissism very well.

I screened Bob Trevino Likes It for the Nashville Film Festival, where it won the jury award for narrative features. It won both the jury award and the audience award at SXSW. That means that most people will like it more than I did. Again – it’s a weeper.

CHAOS: THE MANSON MURDERS: the facts still are incredible

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Photo caption: CHAOS: THE MANSON MURDERS. Courtesy of Netflix.

Master documentarian Erroll Morris revisits and updates the Manson Murders in Chaos: The Manson Murders. After over a half-century, it’s still a chilling, unforgettable story – human behavior so bizarre and transgressive that it’s almost incredible.

Morris introduces us to writer Tom O’Neill, who adds a conspiracy theory. .O’Neill accepts that the Manson Family perpetrated the murders at Charlie Manson’s direction,, but he also sees a connection between Manson and a CIA-funded experiment in mind control, although he doesn’t prove a link. It’s clear that Morris doesn’t buy the conspiracy.

What does Chaos: The Manson Murders add to to our understanding, besides the probably bogus conspiracy theory? The passage of time has added sources and perspective that Morris uses to retell the story more completely than in the past. One dispassionate and ultra-credible source is one of the prosecution team, Stephen Kay, an eyewitness to and participant in the trials. Morris has also found archival footage of interviews with members of the Manson Family and, yes, of Charlie himself.

That allows Morris to unspool a chronological narrative that begins with Manson’s release from prison, his assembling his family of misfits in San Francisco and moving them all to LA so he could dabble in the music industry – just enough to develop a grudge. Morris tells the lesser-known stories of the prequel crimes, the murder of Gary Hinman and the attempted murder of Bernard Crowe, who Manson mistook for a Black Panther because of his Afro. And then finally, the horrors on Cielo Drive and Waverly Drive.

For 46 years, Erroll Morris has been one of the greatest documentarians, with a body of work that ranges from the hilarious (Gates of Heaven, Vernon Florida, Fast Cheap and Out of Control, Tabloid) to the unflinching (The Thin Blue Line, Mr. Death, The Fog of War, Standard Operating Procedure),

(BTW a friend of mine on a prison tour was actually introduced to Charlie Manson in the prison yard. He reported that, indeed, Manson creeped him out with a very scary vibe.)

Chaos: The Manson Murders, the ultimate true crime doc, is streaming on Netflix.

MICKEY 17: lovable loser in space

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Photo caption: Robert Pattinson in MICKEY 17. Courtesy of Warner Bros.

In Bong Joon Ho’s futuristic comic fable Mickey 17, Robert Pattinson plays Mickey, a dim bulb looking to escape a nasty loan shark. Mickey’s desperation is so high, and his self esteem is so low, that he takes a horrific assignment on a space colonization expedition. Mickey’s new job title is Expendable – his body and brain are scanned so that he can be replicated and reprogrammed with his own memories if he is killed; that allows the expedition to use him as a guinea pig and a scout, who can test pilot conditions that might be lethal. Indeed, Mickey has been killed so often that his seventeenth version – Mickey 17 – has just been 3-D printed.

The expedition is led by a buffoonish narcissist and media hog (Mark Ruffalo). He is an election loser who seeks to regain his Big Fish status on a frozen planet. Headstrong and intellectually lazy, he hasn’t bothered to research the destination planet, figuring that he can bull ahead and overwhelm any obstacles with resources, aggression and technology. Does this profile remind you of anyone? He is amoral and utterly ruthless, as is his wife (Toni Collette) . She is kind of a demented Lady Macbeth, obsessed with concocting something she calls “sauce”.

As the colonization attempt faces more challenges and the leader becomes more awful and more unhinged, the expedition’s survival depends on poor Mickey and his closest two colleagues (one of which is really, really, really close). Comic situations and sci fi action ensues.

Although Mickey 17 is a comedy, I only heard the occasional chuckle from the audience. I found the ending to be predictable.

Director and writer Bong Joo Ho adapted the screenplay from the Edward Ashton novel Mickey 7. Bong is a critic of unfettered capitalism, and, Mickey 17, like Snowpiercer, Okja and his Oscar-winner Parasite, takes on the issues of class and corporate greed.

Part of the problem is that Bong asked Ruffalo (with gleaming teeth and a rich guy haircut) and Collette to deliver over-the-top performances, and they obliged. The social satire would have packed more of a punch with more realistic characters, as in Parasite.

This may be, however, a career-topping performance by Robert Pattinson, who nails Mickey’s goofy resignation. His narration, in Mickey’s voice, is a hoot.

Besides Pattinson, the standout is British actress Naomi Ackie, who plays what is essentially the female lead. She’s wonderfully charismatic, and badass,

Bong Joo Ho makes movies so original that it’s been said that he is his own genre. His Memories of Murder is, for my money, the very best serial killer movie. Mickey 17 is always entertaining, but, on th whole, one of Bong’s lesser efforts.

BURT: irrepressible generosity

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Burton Berger in BURT. Courtesy of Cinequest.

The title character in the affecting dramedy Burt is a an elderly street musician with Parkinson’s Disease. Burt rents a room in the home of his landlord Steve, an ever-suspicious and oppositional guy who is Burt’s age. Nevertheless, Burt is relentlessly upbeat. A young man, Sammy, arrives with a letter from one of Burt’s youthful flames, explaining that Sammy is Burt’s son. Burt jumps into belated fatherhood with both feet, and then discovers that all is not as it seems.

Burt (Burton Berger) may face disappointment and hurt, but he does so with an irrepressible generosity of spirit. This is not a Disease of the Week movie. It’s not about Burt’s Parkinson’s. It’s about Burt, a vital guy who is open about his living with Parkinson’s, but who focuses on what he can still experience.

Oliver Cooper and Burton Berger in BURT. Courtesy of Cinequest.

Oliver Cooper (David Berkowitz in Mindhunter, Levon in Californication) captures the contradictions within Sammy, who’s been incarcerated until recently.  Sammy shares a lot of traits with the average criminal – not smart, not strategic, irresponsible and easily led astray.  I’m guessing that his impulse control and anger management aren’t great, either.  But, somehow, Sammy has a reservoir of empathy that may impede his criminality. Cooper also co-wrote.

A remarkably endearing movie, Burt is just the second feature for director and co-writer Joe Burke. Burke shot Burt in seven days for $7,000 with a three person crew.  He succeeded in getting fine performances from the non-professional actors playing Burt (Berger) and Steve (Stephen Levy)..

Burt was executive produced by indie stalwart David Gordon Green (George Washington, All the Real Girls, Undertow). I screened Burt for its world premiere at Cinequest.

AMERICAN AGITATORS: social justice doesn’t just happen

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Fred Ross (foreground left) and Cesar Chavez (foreground right) in AMERICAN AGITATORS. Courtesy of Cinequest.

American Agitators is the important story of legendary organizer Fred Ross, the mentor of Cesar Chavez, and essentially a saint of the social justice movement. American Agitators shows Ross being formed by the Great Depression and the left-wing politics, the union movement and the New Deal. As a fully formed organizer, Ross met Chavez; Ross’ organizing resonated with Chavez applied his own imagination to Ross’ tactics and launched his own historically essential movements for farmworker unionization and Chicano Rights.

Director Raymond Telles has sourced the film impeccably. The third act rolls out Ross’ legacy today, not just Chavez the icon and the Farmworkers movement, but the influence of Fred Ross, Jr. and then a more loosely configured compendium of recent and current labor campaigns..

Fred Ross and Dolores Huerta in AMERICAN AGITATORS. Courtesy of Cinequest.

LOCAL SAN JOSE INTEREST: Fred Ross met Chavez at Cesar’s home at 53 Sharff Avenue in San Jose, hired Cesar as his deputy and organized out of McDonnell Hall at Our Lady of Guadalupe on East Antonio Street.  Cesar’s son Paul (of San Jose) appears in the film as does Luis Valdes of Teatro Campesino, who has also had a significant presence in San Jose.

I screened American Agitators for its world premiere at Cinequest.