Description

In "Beca de Gilas: Rebeca's Story," his 1999 20-minute video documentary, Urquijo paints an intimate portrait of Rebeca Armendáriz, a 21-year-old Chicana battling Prop. 209 in rural California. "Beca" is a gorgeous, passionate work, revealing without resorting to talk-show tawdriness, earnest but not bludgeoning. Deservingly, "Beca," which was funded in part by Pacific News Service, garnered both a Golden Spire award and an honorable mention for grand prize at this year's San Francisco International Film Festival.

"With the awards under his belt and screenings coming up at the Mill Valley and Latino film fests, Urquijo is looking toward his next project, a feature narrative tied to the gentrification of San Francisco. So are we."

A. Clay Thompson (San Francisco Bay Guardian, 1999)

Awards and Exhibition History:

-Contra el Silencio Todas Las Voces (Voice of the Voiceless) Int’l Documentary Fest., Mexico City, MX 3rd Place -Women’s Stories 2000

-San Francisco Int’l Film Fest., Golden Spire for Best Bay Area Documentary and Honorable Mention for the Grand Prize 1999

-Nat’l Education Media Network, Oakland, CA Bronze Apple Award 1999

-Arizona Int’l Film Fest, Honorable Mention Reel Frontier Competition 1999

-Beyond the Prison Industrial Complex Film Fest. Berkeley, CA 2001

-Voladero Film & Video Fest., Monterrey, Mexico 2001

-Int’l New Latin American Film Fest., La Habana, Cuba 2000

-Generation Ñ, New Latino Films and Videos, Guggenheim Museum, N.Y. 2000

-Cine Acción Monthly Series, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA 2000

-AIRING - BAY TV Channel 35, Northern California 2000

-AIRING - Downtown Community Television Center (DCTV), New York 2000

-Silverlake Film Fest, Los Angeles, CA 2000

-San Antonio Cine Fest, TX 1999

-Artist Television Access (ATA), San Francisco, CA 1999

-New York Latino Film and Video Fest., Bronx, N.Y. 1999