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raúl r salinas and the Poetry of Liberation

Un Trip

 “An aesthetically rendered treatment of Raúl Salinas’ poetic and social vision through the lens of his signature poem… gritty, poignant, and lyrical.”

Dr. Louis Mendoza, PhD, University of Arizona

“It reminds me of being at the old Nuyorican Poets Café in New York, where poetry, jazz, and politics mixed freely… just wonderful.”

Paul Stekler, acclaimed documentary filmmaker and founder of the Center for Politics and Governance at the LBJ School of Public Affairs

To learn more about raul click here.

UN TRIP: RAÚLRSALINAS AND THE POETRY OF LIBERATION

a film by Anne Lewis and Laura Varela

UN TRIP: RAÚLRSALINAS AND THE POETRY OF LIBERATION (25 min). UN TRIP is a split-screen jazz and liberation documentary based on “Un Trip through the Mind Jail” written in 1969 by the beloved Xicanindio poet raúlrsalinas while he was incarcerated at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary.

UN TRIP is a story of transformation through political education in the community (initially a community of the incarcerated). The specifics create a model of relationship once outside as well as inside the walls. The story is told by raúlrsalinas who spent most of his adolescent and young adult life inside as a petty criminal and drug dealer. He came out of Federal penitentiaries as a strong social advocate and community organizer. He never went back to prison. 

 The film explores contemporary issues: imprisonment, community destruction, gentrification, and the profound impact of cultural memory on sanity and salvation.

Documentary Short 2023

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raúl

OUR TEAM

anne_lewis

Anne Lewis

Co-Director, Producer

E: annelewis615@gmail.com

AnneLewis.org

Anne Lewis comes out of a movement to make media that helps create opportunity for social change. She has made documentary films (always with limited resources) since the 1970¹s and was associate director and assistant camerawoman for HARLAN COUNTY, USA.

Recent work includes feature documentaries:
A STRIKE AND AN UPRISING (IN TEXAS)
“I think of this film as the monument that replaces the removed statue of Jefferson Davis, a monument to equality and freedom.”
­Alessandro Portelli

ANNE BRADEN: SOUTHERN PATRIOT
“A gem of a film, accented with freedom fighters who speak firsthand about carving a path through a traumatized, violent, racist South.”
­Joan Baez

MORRISTOWN: IN THE AIR AND SUN
“Brings the complex issue of globalization down to its human level. Workers on both sides of the border speak from the heart.”
­Howard Zinn

For a list of films: https://annelewis.org/films/

Anne received a United States Artists award, a Rockefeller Fellowship, and awards for specific films including Judge¹s Choice London Film Festival for FAST FOOD WOMEN and the DuPont-Columbia Award for ON OUR OWN LAND. Her intent is to create meaningful work, tell the truth about working class Americans, and contribute to the vitality of independent filmmaking.

Laura Varela (1)

Laura Varela

Co-Director/Producer

E: varelafilm@gmail.com

varelafilm.orgvarelafilm on IG

Laura Varela is a documentary filmmaker whose work is shaped by her roots growing up on the US/ Mexico border in El Paso, TX. Her work crosses cultural, linguistic, and physical borders through film and contemporary art installations. She now resides in San Antonio, TX, where she works as a filmmaker and artist. She produces for VoxFem Network, a multi-platform, multi-program, multi-venue network, and center for innovative, international women artists & changemakers.

Varela’s documentary, As Long as I Remember: American Veteranos, was broadcast on PBS from 2010 to 2016. Along with Anne Lewis, she Co-Directed and Produced the documentary Un Trip: raúl r salinas and The Poetry of Liberation. She is currently in post-production on American Sons, a feature documentary for PBS. She is a recipient of awards from The National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, Humanities Texas, Latino Public Broadcasting’s Public Media Content Fund, ITVS Diversity Development Fund and California Humanities. Varela lectures and screens her work internationally at cultural centers and Universities; most recently teaching documentary film at the University of Texas-San Antonio. She is an alumnus of the CPB/PBS Producers Academy, the NALAC Leadership Institute, the NALIP Producers Academy, a fellow of the Latino Media Market, Creative Capital Professional Development Workshop. Artist Residencies include Swarthmore College, Art for Change, NYC, and the Hochschule Niederrhein and Faust Academy in Germany. For more info please visit varelafilm.org

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