Filmmaker María Agui Carter will present her new film “Rebel” at the American Latino Heritage Forum being hosted by the White House and the U.S. Department of the Interior. President Barak Obama will deliver remarks and confirmed guests include Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, Members of Congress, Latino community leaders from across the country,and King Juan Carlos of Spain during this Hispanic Heritage month event celebrating the contributions of American Latinos who have helped shape America’s rich and diverse history.
Ms. Agui Carter will sneak-preview scenes from “Rebel,” coming to PBS in 2012, uncovering one of the most dramatic untold stories of Latino American contributions to a pivotal event of American history – the American Civil War.
REBEL, a feature documentary about a Cuban Woman soldier and spy of the American Civil War, is a lush dramatic period piece set in the 19th Century, based on the memoir of Loreta Velazquez who disguised herself as a man to fight in the American Civil War. Loreta, a Cuban immigrant who thrived in the bustling Latino community of 19th Century New Orleans, left amemoir about her experiences so ahead of her time that many have considered it a hoax. But in the past decade, historians have discovered documents in the National Archives, newspaper articles, and letters showing that Loreta Velazquez did indeed exist, and was one of over a thousand women soldiers who fought for the North and the South.
“Loreta’s memoir gives us a rare insight into war from a woman’s and a Latina’s point of view and serves as a basis for this film. She was an immigrant serving her country by fighting for it, as so many generations have done. She grew up in New Orleans and joined the Confederacy as a patriotic southerner, but records show she also spied for the North. My film and new media project explores her story in the context of our national memory. She was a complex woman who ultimately turned against war as a solution to the world’s problems,” says Writer/DirectorMaría Agui Carter.
Known for her award winning PBS documentaries, Ms. Agui Carter spent a decade creating this film, shot on location in New Orleans’ French Quarter and Civil War battlefields. A graduate of Harvard University, Ms. Agui Carter was born in Ecuador and grew up in New York City. She is a former WGBH producer and President of a Spanish/English bilingual film and New Media production company, Iguana Films. She is the current chair of the Board of the largest group of Latino media makers in the country, The National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) with a constituency of 10,000 Latino creatives, executives, and talent around the country.
The White House Forum on American Latino Heritage will be held on Wednesday, October 12, 2011, 8:30AM – 5:30PM at the Department of the Interior, Yates Auditorium 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240. A full agenda and expanded coverage details will be issued closer to the event and the forum will be live streamed at www.doi.gov/live.
To keep apprised of REBEL’s festival and broadcast launch, please “like” the project on facebook atfacebook.com/Rebel.documentary or go to Iguanafilms.com for information on this and other films made by María Agui Carter. Ms. Agui Carter can be reached for interviews at info@iguanafilms.com or by phone at (617) 429-1258.983 Views
