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Please, Don't Bury Me Alive!

Please, Don't Bury Me Alive! (1976)
October 15, 2020 - 4:00 pm

Co-presented by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center

Please, Don't Bury Me Alive! / ¡Por Favor, No Me Entierren Vivo!  (1976)

Considered the first Chicano feature, Efraín Gutiérrez’s landmark independent film offers an in-depth look at 1970s-era South Texas Chicano culture, as its central character questions his place in a society that undervalues Latinos, so many of whom have been killed in the Vietnam War. A historic, influential hit in regional theaters, the film was long thought lost before it was located by UCLA Professor Chon Noriega and restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. It was added to the National Film Registry in 2014. 

The screening will be preceded by a pre-recorded introduction by Sundance award-winning independent filmmaker Cristina Ibarra. There will be a live, post-screening Q&A with filmmaker Efraín Gutiérrez and Chon Noriega, Director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, moderated by Colin Gunckel, Latina/o media and art and Latin American cinema historian.

Color, in English and Spanish with English subtitles, 81 min. Director: Efraín Gutiérrez. Screenwriter: Sabino Garza. Cast: Efraín Gutiérrez, Josefina Paz, David Moss, Abel Franco, Oscar Escamilla.

Funding for this screening is provided by Los Tigres del Norte Fund at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center and the Hugh M. Hefner Classic American Film Program.

Watch the introduction and Q&A: