CoyoteMoon Films launch with Time and Again and Se Habla Español
7 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 7
Crossroads 6 Grand Cinemas
4811 E. Grant Road
327-7067;
It's always exciting to see your town on the big screen. You recognize that building; you've driven along that street; you've shopped in that store.
Well, get ready: A new Tucson company, CoyoteMoon Films, shot a short movie here—and there are recognizable scenes everywhere.
Se Habla Español will premiere on Saturday, officially launching CoyoteMoon Films. The 15-minute film takes place around the holidays and depicts a day in the life of Angelica, a bilingual woman bridging Anglo and Latino cultures. Some familiar spots to notice: La Buena Tortilleria on 22nd Street and Mission San Xavier del Bac.
At the screening, a DVD package will be available for purchase. It includes Se Habla Español with a behind-the-scenes feature on the making of the film; a documentary called Even a Gringa Can Make a Tamale; and a photomontage, Tucson: Two Cultures.
"This is a holiday present to Tucson, about Tucson," says Howard Allen, who started CoyoteMoon Films. "It says a lot about Tucson in a friendly, holiday way."
Also showing at the launch event will be the short film Time and Again (Una y Otra Vez). The film is about love and immigrant work in the United States. It won Best Narrative Short Film honors at the Los Angeles Film Festival, which gives it a chance to enter the Oscars. The producer (who is also from Tucson) and director will be at the event, too.
Allen says CoyoteMoon Films made Se Habla Español with the latest technology—to show people they know what they're doing. The company will focus primarily on low-budget and micro-budget films to prove that a movie is about the story, not the cost.
Admission is $8. —A.P.
Beyond Spider-Man
The Second Annual Tucson Comic Convention
10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 7
Hotel Arizona
181 W. Broadway Blvd.
In true comic-geek fashion, costumes are more than welcome at the Second Annual Tucson Comic Convention.
Last year, the 501st Dune Sea Garrison (a Star Wars costume group) was a hit. "Nothing says comic convention like a stormtrooper," says convention host Mike Olivares in an e-mail interview.
For this year's follow-up, Olivares has put together a street team to plant the comic-loving seed in more young Tucsonans, with local shop Fantasy Comics promoting the event to UA students.
Attendees can interact with local comic-book superstars and receive free sketches.
One creator scheduled to attend is Eric Schock, part of the team who provides artwork for the Comic Con posters and fliers. He started Evil Robo Productions in 2000 and works on the Ash-Tray comic series. The company now has a second book on board called Cataclysm. Creator Matt "Zip" Howard and the Evil Robo group will drop issue zero at the convention.
With his own company, Schock has the freedom to tell his own stories. This is a luxury that he was taught to value through one of his favorite childhood comics—Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, to be exact.
"That book changed the way I thought of what a comic book could be," says Schock. "You do not need to stay to the standard; you can do anything."
The profession is more complicated than just slinging spider webs, he says.
"I learned that to be a comic artist, you have to be both a storyteller and an artist," says Schock. "Comics are ... art, writing, storytelling, coloring and design all rolled into one form."
The event is free, with raffle giveaways every half-hour. —E.N.
Paintings and Phrases
Ruben Urrea Moreno's So They Say
Reception 6 to 10 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 7
On display through Saturday, Nov. 28
Contreras Gallery
110 E. Sixth St.
398-6557;
www.contrerashousefineart.com;
Many grandmothers spit clichés all over the place, but Ruben Urrea Moreno might be the first to paint those phrases.
Common English, Latin and Mexican proverbs served as the inspiration for Moreno's newest collection of artwork, So They Say: A Pictorial View on Phrases.
"My grandmother used to say a lot of funny things," says Moreno (a Tucson Weekly contributor). "I thought I would play with that—explore them some more."
The Tucson native lived with his grandma until the age of 5, and it was during that time that he taught himself to paint.
He also started collecting sayings—or "dichos" in Spanish—that grabbed his interest. By creating visual interpretations of these sayings, he seeks to challenge people's understanding of phrases like, "To thine own self be true," and, "To the brave belongs the future."
We may say them, but do we consider what they mean?
"They are so cliché," Moreno says of the dichos. "They just roll out of the mouth. But where did that come from?"
The dozen-plus paintings combine elements from many different cultures, including Mayan and Greek, to reflect a phrase's diverse origins.
One piece that Moreno says he is particularly excited to show is "El Torero Guerrero." The oil on wood features a minotaur and a human in a role reversal, with the half-bull waving the matador's red cape. Worked into the painting are the words, "Cada quien siente su mal," or, "Each person feels their own misfortune."
Even if you hate hearing those old sayings, you might enjoy seeing them come to life in the form of a bloody bullfight.
The event is free. —E.N.
Laugh in Those Ideas!
Kate Clinton: YES on K8
7 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 8
Temple of Music and Art
330 S. Scott Ave.
622-2823;
When Proposition 8 passed in California in November 2008, eliminating marriage rights for same-sex couples, some people started calling it "Prop H8" (as in Prop Hate).
Then self-described political fumerist (feminist + humorist) Kate Clinton did what she does best: She injected some humor into the situation. Clinton named her new tour YES on K8.
The show will poke fun at the issues that are on everybody's minds today.
"I'm sorta like a newspaper," she says. "Last time I toured, Bush was in office. And everything was, 'Bush is bad' this, and, 'Bush sucks' that. Think of all that has happened in the last year!"
Well, maybe she's more like an altweekly.
Whatever she is, Clinton manages to make even stimulus packages funny—so funny that she has made anchors laugh on shows like Good Morning America and Entertainment Tonight. And the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force awarded the lesbian icon a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999.
Event coordinator Kristen Birner says that Clinton's performance will benefit the Alliance Fund, which organizes philanthropic events and grant projects for LGBT members of Southern Arizona.
Clinton's act is not just for kicks—she also hopes to bring about a little bit of cultural change in a time of extreme political polarization.
"What happens is people let their guard down when they're laughing," she says. "They let in ideas that they don't usually let in."
She says that one guy approached her after a show and said, "I'm straight and a Republican, but I laughed."
Tickets range from $30 to $100; some of the cost is tax-deductible. —E.N.
