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Please, Don't Bury Me Alive!
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Wikipedia article
'Please, Don't Bury Me Alive!' is a 1976 independent film directed by and starring Efran Gutirrez and written by Sabino Garza. It is considered to be the first Chicano feature film.
'Please, Don't Bury Me Alive!' was considered lost since 1980 following Gutirrez's departure from the film industry. The film was "re-discovered" by University of California, Los Angeles professor Chon Noriega in 1996. Noriega, the UCLA Film and Television Archive, and the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center then restored and re-released the film.
In 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot
The events take place in San Antonio, Texas in the spring of 1972, where the young protagonist Alejandro Hernandez (played by director Efran Gutirrez), buries an elder brother killed in the Vietnam War. The young unemployed Chicano, a petty criminal, is entrapped in a heroin deal by law enforcement officials, receiving a 10-year sentence. An Anglo youth, convicted of a similar sentence, is given probation. The judge who sentences Alejandro is revealed as the same person who presided over the funeral of the young mans brother. Chronologically, the film links the release date of the protagonist with the release of the film in 1976.Noriega, 2004: A brief paraphrase of summary provided by Noriega.
Budget
Filmed over a four-year period, the production cost $60,000, and grossed $300,000 in Spanish language theaters in the Southwestern United States.Noriega, 2004
Preservation
Preserved from a 16mm print as part of the Chicano Cinema Recovery Project. Noriega, 2004
Footnotes
References
*Noreiga, Chon A. 2004. 'Please Dont Bury Me Alive, 1977'. UCLA Film and Television Archive: 12th Festival of Preservation, July 22-August 21, 2004. Festival guest publication.
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