If being Chicano in this country isn't hard enough with all the anti-Mexican slurs and slings, we also get dissed south of the border.
But this week, Mexico City will be invaded by pochos, some of them from Tucson, who will take their imperfect Spanish and American influences to the Mexican capital for its first-ever Chicano film festival.
This is big. This is the crossing of a cultural bridge that historically has been weak.
Being Chicano/Mexican American does not always automatically give us a pass in Mexico. There, in the land of our Mexican-born parents and grandparents, the Chicano experience often is misunderstood or even resented.
"It was like a distant cousin coming to dinner," said Tucson filmmaker Pablo Toledo of his experience traveling in Mexico as a youngster with his family.
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"We really didn't know each other," said Toledo, whose 2003 feature film, "Runnin' at Midnite," is a festival entry.
Toledo's film is one of several Tucson feature films and documentaries in the festival. Others include "Pancho Goes to College" by Ruben Reyes, "Alambrista Emplumado," by Alfonso Sahagun, a photographer at KGUN, Channel 9, and "El Silencio de Miguel," a short film by Edgar Ybarra, a cameraman for Telemundo, the Spanish-language television outlet.
In addition, Arizona Daily Star education reporter George B. Sánchez will speak at the festival on the award-winning documentary "Nuestra Familia, Our Family," produced by the Center for Investigative Reporting. Sánchez was the documentary's lead reporter.
Also showing will be "Lalo Guerrero: The Original Chicano," a documentary made by Dan Guerrero about his Tucson-born musician/singer father who defined Chicano music.
"It's great to be highlighting Tucson in a positive way, especially Chicano filmmakers," said Reyes, 41, district director for Congressman Raúl Grijalva.
The films should go a long way in giving Mexican filmgoers a clearer idea of the complexity of the Chicano experience in the United States. They'll come to realize that Mexican-Americans are not monolithic and defy their stereotypes.
"There's a lot of room for that in Mexico," said Camiliano Juárez, a 35-year-old Pima County employee who acted in "Pancho Goes to College."
The movie won best feature, and Juárez was judged best actor at the recent East LA Chicano Film Festival.
While the foray to Mexico City is new, some of the Tucson films have had success at other film festivals.
"Runnin' at Midnite" has been shown in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Texas, and Italy, said Toledo, 34, a graduate of film school at the University of Southern California.
Tucson will not rival Los Angeles as a filmmaking center, but Tucson has the potential of becoming a strong incubator for Latino independent film-makers. Proximity to the border, the University of Arizona and Pima Community College, and various arts support groups could create an enriching environment.
Toledo is working on his next film, "Libertad," which he will shoot in Nogales, Sonora.
And like all locally made films, local talent benefits.
While there has been a historical misunderstanding between Mexicans and their pocho cousins, technology is narrowing the cultural distance.
Said Reyes: "When you start digging a little more in Mexico, there is a greater appreciation of us up here."
What's a pocho?
Pocho. n, derogatory slang word used in Mexico to describe Chicanos/Mexican-Americans for their faulty Spanish and their American way of life and attitudes.
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