Presented by Queer Cultural Center, Instituto Familiar de la Raza and
Royal Eagle Bear Productions

The de la Riva’s convene superstar Agents of Creative Change, artists/activists/educators & you, for a multimedia event weaving together issues from their film (Queer Latina/o identity, health/wellness and dis-ease, from “Gay cancer” to the modern epidemic of cancer in communities of color) to discuss strategies for healing ourselves, our communities and the earth. A screening of sequences of ME, and Mr. MAURI: Turning Poison into Medicine with cast, crew & editor Augie Robles, poetry, lively discussion and feasting!

Bienvenidos by Dr. Estela Garcia, y Altar by Celia Herrera Rodriguez.

Discussion with Cherrie Moraga, Osa de la Riva, Roban San Miguel, Maria Cora, Lenore Chinn and Diane “Chili D” Felix, with moderators Gina Diáz and Sergio De La Mora.

ME, and Mr. MAURI: Turning Poison into Medicine is a documentary that tells the stories of SF Bay Area Queer Latina/o activists who died of SIDA/AIDS during the years 1988 to the present. This hybrid work-in-progress portrays the fight with and eventual succumbing to SIDA/AIDS of Mauricio Delgado, John Juarez, Margarita Benitez, Francisco X. Zamora, Rodrigo Reyes, and Chente Valenzuela.

ME, and Mr. MAURI is richly polyphonic also in its formal components, the use of hybrid media and artistic genres such as photographs, animation, poetry, altares, music and dancing. This urgent film is an act of love, an ofrenda to all rainbow folks, a reflection on the role in maintaining our health and wellness, a love song to our dead, and a giving thanks to, as Osa puts it in the film “this bouquet of life opening again and again and again.”