Spain in/and the United States

Monday, April 18, 2011

7:00 pm

La Nacional

239 West 14^th St

Free and open to the public

Screening and discussion of two documentaries about Spaniards in the US.

NYU’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese and its King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center, together with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives and La Nacional, are pleased to present filmmaker Luis Argeo, who will screen and discuss his two documentaries which explore the history of Spaniards in the United States.  NYU Professor James D. Fernández will introduce Argeo and moderate the discussion.

7:00 pm

AsturianUS (2006, 52 minutes)

The town of Arnao (Asturias, Spain) grew under the wing of a Mining and Zinc Company. After the closure of its factory at the beginning of the 20th century, many of its employees emigrated to West Virginia and Pennsylvania, searching for the American dream. In Spelter (WV) and Donora (PA), the descendents of those Asturian workers want to preserve their roots and traditions. But now, they are AsturianUS.

8:15 pm

Corsino, by Cole Kivlin (2010, 65 minutes)

Corsino was one of the thousands of Spanish children who were uprooted as a result of Franco’s uprising in 1936. In his case, what was supposed to be a temporary destination (the US) ended up becoming his home. It’s the place where Corsino stopped being Corsino Fernández to become Cole Kivlin: a Texan, father of many, amateur writer, and almost an All American archetype who sits on his porch to watch the hours go by. Sixty years later, Kivlin decides to go back to Asturias to find himself again and trace his origins: he vindicates memory not as a way to settle issues with the past but as the only way to understand himself, and ultimately explain himself to others.