09/17/21
TRENDS THIS WEEK
☞ Youtube Steven Spielberg’s WEST SIDE STORY
☞ Letterboxd THE CARD COUNTER
☞ TikTok #LatinxCreated
☞ Spotify PEPAS - Farruko
☞ Netflix AN UNFINISHED LIFE
☞ Twitter #HispanicHeritageMonth
Life & Culture
Kicking off Hispanic Heritage Month, Barbie just announced a year-long partnership with Latinitas, a bilingual education nonprofit that works to empower girls in media and tech spaces. The project, which Mattel is calling the “Barbie Dream Gap Project,” will address the very real problem that “starting at age five, many girls begin to develop self-limiting beliefs and think they're not as smart and capable as boys.” The company is funding a research program with NYU that’s meant to dig deeper in this issue. Additionally, this month it introduced two new dolls in the Barbie universe, inspired by Cuban-American singer Celia Cruz and Dominican-American author Julia Alvarez, respectively.
If you’re like me and don’t like going to restaurants and businesses unless you’ve fully vetted them on Yelp first, I’m here to tell you that the platform is going to help you do even better this month. The company partnered with Momento Latino to highlight Latinx-owned businesses in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. Users will be able to use the new feature to identify Latinx-owned restaurants and businesses while they navigate the website and app. Because we all know that regrams and hashtags are great, but supporting the people and businesses in a community with your $$ is the best way to make meaningful change quickly.
Also! My favorite TikTok I saw this week: this girl’s dad casually joins in on the live music when they go out for dinner and the resulting moment honestly looks like pure joy.
—Darlene Kenney, Digital Strategist
Film
One word: chaos. Two words: mind blown. WILD TALES (trailer here) is one of my all time favorite films. It’s a story about human behaviour and what happens when people are pushed to their limits. Unexpected, adrenaline-pumping, and funny, you basically get six movies in one with WILD TALES as its an anthology of short stories. Written and directed by Argentinian director Damián Szifron, who reportedly wrote the movie while taking a bath (or a couple), it absolutely transports you to another world. (Literally, he said “I’d write one story a night in the bath, then another, then 15 or 20…”) Def check it out.
—Martina Lund, VP Marketing & Media Design
I saw LA CIÉNAGA (trailer here) a few months ago and have not stopped thinking about it since. Director Lucrecia Martel creates an extremely unique mood that immediately sucks you in. The film is set in Argentina and transports you into the dark and hazy summer days spent by a group of families in La Cienega, which translates in English to “the swamp.” Although the story is heavy and bleak, Martel’s intensely beautiful cinematography provides an entrancing balance. Check this one out if you’re looking to be lifted out of this world with no warning. You’ll love it if you also liked AMERICAN HONEY or CALL ME BY YOUR NAME.
—Darlene Kenney, Digital Strategist
TV
I’ve been a fan of Rosa Salazar ever since seeing her in ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL and UNDONE, so I was excited when I saw that she plays the lead in BRAND NEW CHERRY FLAVOR (trailer here), created by Nick Antosca (THE ACT). In this trippy, lurid horror-satire show, Rosa plays an up-and-coming filmmaker who heads to Hollywood with big dreams in the early ‘90s but quickly finds herself wronged by a powerful producer. Seeking revenge, she looks to a mystical witch to help her place a curse (which, of course, comes at a high personal price). Rosa delivers an impressive performance in this strange limited series, carrying a project that is filled with self-conscious weirdness. She’s an actress who’s clearly intentional in taking on roles that are committed to imaginative oddities, and she brings refreshing and nuanced layers to those roles. That said, this is not a show for everyone—which is made abundantly clear after (slight spoiler alert!!) we see Salazar’s character vomit out a kitten at the end of the first episode—but if you want to catch a show that is surreal and scary but satirically funny, this should be your weekend watch!
—Mimi Li, Development Assistant
Music
My favorite thing right now is the collaboration between international pop star Rosalía and rising star Tokishca on a new dembow anthem. Dembow is a genre that originated in Jamaica but is now extremely popular in the Dominican Republic. Its main element is a simple and bouncy rhythm. I’m especially excited about this particular dembow collaboration because Tokishca is actually pretty controversial at home, since the dembow genre is historically very male dominated and naturally being a woman in this space has not been easy. But Tokishca has been absolutely killing it. Her collaboration with Rosalía feels like a new beginning for her—and an incredible moment for Latinx women artists. The song is titled LINDA and let me tell you it is everything—from the bouncy rhythm to the music video that features so many women.
—Eden Bekele, Digital Associate
One of my favorite fresh voices that’s come to the top of my playlist recently is Omar Apollo. Dubbed as “the blue-haired, gender-rebellious, Mexican American Prince” by the LA times, Omar is an up-and-comer whose 2020 mini-album “Apolonio” surprised me with its playful genre-shifts, sensual riffs, and great features including Kali Uchis and Bootsy Collins. Born in Indiana to immigrant parents from Guadalajara, Omar taught himself guitar and uploaded his first single to Soundcloud in 2017 . Since then, he’s captivated pop fans with his wide range of musical abilities, bicultural cool, vulnerability, and distinct style. His music is reflective of his journey as a DIY artist, as well as his identity as a first-generation Mexican American—on the track “Dos Uno Neuve,” he recounts his parents’ journey to come to the U.S. and his current life as a musician based in L.A. So if you haven’t checked out his work, stream “Apolonio” this weekend!
—Mimi Li, Development Assistant
Filmmaker
After winning the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2017 with A FANTASTIC WOMAN (trailer here), Chilean director Sebastián Lelio has been relatively quiet. His last feature was the 2018 English-language remake of his 2013 film GLORIA (trailer here), but he’s set to release an adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s novel THE WONDER starring Florence Pugh next year for Netflix. Ahead of that release, I recommend checking out his pair of 2017 films: the Oscar-winning A FANTASTIC WOMAN and DISOBEDIENCE (trailer here). Starring Daniela Vega, A FANTASTIC WOMAN follows a transgender woman in Santiago as she grieves the death of her boyfriend. Lelio adorns this story of loss with fantastical flourishes that heighten Vega’s emotional performance. DISOBEDIENCE, Lelio’s first English-language feature, stars Rachel Weisz as a woman returning to the Orthodox Jewish community that she was forced to leave after she was found kissing her close childhood friend, played by Rachel McAdams. When the two reunite, passions flare again, and the two must decide what they now want, both from each other and their communities. Lelio’s direction and the Rachels’ lead performances build a pregnant tension that lasts for the entire film.
—Nolan Russell, Executive Assistant
