Efrain Gutierrez
EFRAINGUTIERREZ.COM is dedicated in honor of Efrain Gutierrez, a self-taught filmmaker who works out of San Antonio. Gutierrez is a 1966 graduate from Edgewood High School and has an A. A. degree in Multimedia from Northwest Vista College in San Antonio and a B.A. in history from Texas A&M Kingsville.
Efrain Gutierrez – Biography
Gutierrez is recognized by academia as the first Chicano (Mexican/American) to independently produce a movie “Please Don’t Bury Me Alive/Por Favor No Me Entierren Vivo!” released in 1976. Gutierrez’s low budget feature film “Please Don’t Bury Me Alive !/ Por favor, no me entierren vivo!” revenues topped “All the President’s men” and “Jaws” in several Texas theaters. He also wrote/produced/directed two other films “Amor Chicano Es Para Siempre/Chicano Love is Forever” released in 1977 and “Run Tecato Run” released in 1979. Each year UCLA selects 15 movies per year, out of over one million films available. UCLA has honored Gutierrez by selecting these three films for restoration and preservation at the UCLA Film and Television Archives, making Gutierrez the first Chicano/Latino/Hispanic/ to have his films archived at UCLA. UCLA Chicano Film, Television, and Digital Media Studies Research Center professor Chon Noeiga compares Gutierrez to Oscar Micheaux, an African American film pioneer. Oscar Micheaux, who directed “race movies” for black audience from the 1920 through 1940s. Rooted in Chicano teatro, Gutierrez films dramatize the moral dilemmas and socioeconomic hardship facing the Chicano working-class community, in his honor Noriega has nominated Gutierrez’s three films to the National Library of Congress.
Efrain also wrote, produced and directed “Lowrider Spring Break en San Quilmas” released in 2001. His fifth and latest release “Barrio Tales: Tops, Kites, and Marbles” was screened at several branch libraries and the Central Library in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen, and Brownsville Texas. The San Antonio Public Library System “Chicano Renaissance” honored Efrain and several other Chicano artist and activists during the National Hispanic Month. Gutierrez films and his story are part of the curriculum at many major universities and colleges. Several thesis and dissertations have been written about Efrain Gutierrez at Universities in California and Texas.
Efrain has written/directed/produced several documentaries which include “El Juanio” a documentary about toxic inhalant produced for the Mexican American Neighborhood Civic Organization, and released in 1979. “El Juanio” was instrumental in Texas Governor Clements passing a law that made selling of spray paints to minors illegal. Gutierrez also founded and directed the Chicano Arts Theatre (CAT) 1971 to 1974. CAT’s performance of Abel Franco’s play “Juan Corazon” in 1972 at the Guadalupe Theater was instrumental in organizing the art community to reopen the Teatro Guadalupe for the community.
For more information or interviews please contact Irma at 210-815-0018 or email [email protected]
Efrain Gutierrez – Biography
Gutierrez is recognized by academia as the first Chicano (Mexican/American) to independently produce a movie “Please Don’t Bury Me Alive/Por Favor No Me Entierren Vivo!” released in 1976. Gutierrez’s low budget feature film “Please Don’t Bury Me Alive !/ Por favor, no me entierren vivo!” revenues topped “All the President’s men” and “Jaws” in several Texas theaters. He also wrote/produced/directed two other films “Amor Chicano Es Para Siempre/Chicano Love is Forever” released in 1977 and “Run Tecato Run” released in 1979. Each year UCLA selects 15 movies per year, out of over one million films available. UCLA has honored Gutierrez by selecting these three films for restoration and preservation at the UCLA Film and Television Archives, making Gutierrez the first Chicano/Latino/Hispanic/ to have his films archived at UCLA. UCLA Chicano Film, Television, and Digital Media Studies Research Center professor Chon Noeiga compares Gutierrez to Oscar Micheaux, an African American film pioneer. Oscar Micheaux, who directed “race movies” for black audience from the 1920 through 1940s. Rooted in Chicano teatro, Gutierrez films dramatize the moral dilemmas and socioeconomic hardship facing the Chicano working-class community, in his honor Noriega has nominated Gutierrez’s three films to the National Library of Congress.
Efrain also wrote, produced and directed “Lowrider Spring Break en San Quilmas” released in 2001. His fifth and latest release “Barrio Tales: Tops, Kites, and Marbles” was screened at several branch libraries and the Central Library in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen, and Brownsville Texas. The San Antonio Public Library System “Chicano Renaissance” honored Efrain and several other Chicano artist and activists during the National Hispanic Month. Gutierrez films and his story are part of the curriculum at many major universities and colleges. Several thesis and dissertations have been written about Efrain Gutierrez at Universities in California and Texas.
Efrain has written/directed/produced several documentaries which include “El Juanio” a documentary about toxic inhalant produced for the Mexican American Neighborhood Civic Organization, and released in 1979. “El Juanio” was instrumental in Texas Governor Clements passing a law that made selling of spray paints to minors illegal. Gutierrez also founded and directed the Chicano Arts Theatre (CAT) 1971 to 1974. CAT’s performance of Abel Franco’s play “Juan Corazon” in 1972 at the Guadalupe Theater was instrumental in organizing the art community to reopen the Teatro Guadalupe for the community.
For more information or interviews please contact Irma at 210-815-0018 or email [email protected]
