NHCC to Host Free Cuban Film Series in Conjunction with Los Van Van Concert

On August 19, AMP Concerts and the National Hispanic Cultural Center will present Los Van Van - one of Cuba's biggest and best loved dance bands - on the Plaza Mayor at the NHCC. In conjunction with the concert, the Center will be screening three Cuban films as part of their regular Thursday night Spanish-language film series.

Los Van Van's appearance in New Mexico is a major coup. The tour is only visiting seven cities in the United States, and they are all major markets. Albuquerque appears alongside Washington DC, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Denver and Miami. The concert will be a huge celebration, with dance demonstrations, DJs, dining options from the NHCC's new restaurant M'Tucci's Cocina Grill and their sister restaurant M'Tucci's Italian Restaurant, paletas from Pop Fizz and an afterparty at The Library. And, of course, the main event - the legendary Los Van Van.

Tickets are $27 advance, $32 day of show. VIP tickets are available and kids 15 and under are free. Tickets are available form http://www.ampconcerts.org and the NHCC Box Office (505-724-4771).

The series of Cuban films shown were provided by Anya Achtenberg, courtesy of the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos, with the express permission of director Ian Padrón for Eso que anda. The schedule is as follows:

August 6: Nosotros, la música. Rogelio París' 1964 documentary provides a rich and varied panorama of Cuban music at an historic moment in the mid-1960s, featuring Bola de Nieve, Celeste Mendoza, ELENA Burke, and other musicians, as well as footage of the audiences in various parts of the island waiting to hear the music and dancing to it.

August 13: Eso que anda. In his 2009 film, Ian Padrón follows Los Van Van during their 2006 tour in Cuba, which was attended by more than one million people. The film explores the band's four decades of history and future plans, and shows, through interviews with the members, why they are called "the narrators of their time."

August 20: Habanastation. Ian Padrón's 2011 drama, filmed in a slum in western Havana, addresses inequalities in Cuba through the relationship between two children of different social strata. It was submitted as the Cuban entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards.

The National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC), a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs dedicated to the preservation, promotion, and advancement of Hispanic culture, arts, and humanities, offers an ongoing Thursday Film Series, with films shown free to the public at 7 PM on most Thursdays during the year. The majority of these films, screened in collaboration with a variety of presenting partners, are from Spain, Mexico, and other Latin American countries and are in Spanish with English subtitles. Films are listed on the NHCC website, www.nhccnm.org; tickets are available at the Center one hour before each screening.

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