///GUSTAVO VASQUEZ : FILM

Gustavo Vazquez was born in Guadalajara and grew up in Tijuna, Mexico. When he immigrated to the United States, at age fourteen, he experienced profound culture shock, but the medium of film provided him with a new language to compensate for his inability to speak or write English. His documentary, experimental and dramatic films largley relate to his roots in Mexico. The effect of national and local borders on human dignity is of particular interest as Gustavo feels that "...borders are not inherently evil, but the stereotypes they engender usually are. At best tedious, and at worst brutal, stereotypes provide a steady undercurrent of hatred that erodes the complex nature of what it is to be human." Presenting authentic experiences of Chicanos and Latinos has focused his work as a filmmaker, festival director and film curator. He is a recipient of the Rockefeller Media Fellowship Award, Eureka Visual Artist Fellowship from the Fleishhacker Foundation, and the Artist Fellowship from the California Arts Council.