April 26, 1999
Portillo, the recent recipient of the CalArts Alpert Award in the Arts and the Taos Film Festival Cineaste Award, will screen several of her movies.
"Corpus: A Home Movie for Selena," will be shown at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 27, at the Spencer Museum of Art auditorium. This documentary about the impact that singer Selena Quintanilla had on her fans received the 1999 Golden Spire award at the San Francisco Film Festival. Quintanilla, a Grammy-winning Latin American singer, was murdered in 1995.
"Columbus On Trial," a political satire featuring performance artists Culture Clash commemorating "500 years of resistance," will be shown at 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 28, at 100 Oldfather Studios, followed by a question-and-answer session with Portillo.The video matches complex visual construction with verbal and physical comedy.
Portillo's visit is sponsored by the KU Center of Latin American Studies and the Department of Theatre and Film.
Born in Chihuahua, Mexico, Portillo was raised in Los Angeles from the age of 13. She began her film-making career after moving to San Francisco in the mid-1970s, and received her M.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute.
Portillo is expected to meet for an informal conversation with members of the Hispanic American Leadership Organization and Latin American Studies and other graduate students on April 28.