Howdy gente,

First let me start off by wishing everyone a belated-2 week
in Happy New Gregorian Calendar Year.  According to the
Mayans we're 4 years away from the end of time. Can't wait!
Meanwhile, I'm bringing you a pepelicula update. Here goes:

'07 started with me in L.A. but ended with me in


Here's how it happened, over the summer Beni Matias
from NALIP passed my info on to some folks creating an
intensive 6 week film class to a group of nine incarcerated
men.  I gladly accepted the challenge and it was a marvelous
experience.  With help from lots of people but especially
Shane King, Diana Brodie and Anthony Marchitiello, I taught
these 9 first time filmmakers and together we all produced
9 short but powerful films that ranged from an "Iron Chef"
spin off to water conservation rights and the Klamath River
to the Birdman of San Quentin.  Each film has its own
compelling story both in front & behind the camera. The
finished films were shared with San Quentin's general
population and from what I've learned the men are still
applauding these first time filmmakers visions.
More on this later… in the meantime check out
my SQ squatting/squinting soccer pose.

Since the new year, I have been literally
on the road working hard with award
winning documentarian Ilan Ziv and his
timely doc "A Journey Among The Believers".
We are documenting/talking with grass root
activists and ordinary folks from across
the country with views from across the
ideological spectrum about how their faith
in God will or will not influence their
vote in the upcoming presidential
elections. The transition from San Quentin
fog from the bay to Pennsylvania's snow plowing trucks has
been amazing.  We've already passed through Iowa,
Indianapolis, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Connecticut,
Massachusetts and I write you this update from New York.
We are gearing up to pick back up on today and head to:
Ohio, Kentucky, the Carolina's, Alabama, Florida and finish
the road trip in Oklahoma City on Super Tues. Feb. 5th.
Ride with us here or here.

2008 Pepelicula's
"Radio Bandido" my documentary
about the stolen life and
times of Oscar "Bandido" Gomez
continues and I gather more
interviews and details about
his last days in Santa Barbara.
Which includes a return visit
to the shores where he was
ultimately found on the beach,
exactly 13 years later. I plan to have a rough cut of the
film done this year.

This past summer, with the help of my good buddy/creative
collaborating compañero Eric Escobar, I wrote an
undocumented romantic comedy entitled "Casi, Casi". This
spring, our plan is to use all of our resources and help
from our friends (which may be YOU!) and make this feature
film for under $1,000. Wish us luck, it's going to be
fantastic!!Looking forward to staying in contact &
connected with you this year.  And if you have read this
far, we're off to a great start-thanx!

con pasión,
-Urquijo

Thanks everyone for showing up last night and missing another espisode of Top Chef, (I wonder what they’d do with an elote, some chilé and a vending permit?) Thanks also to Galeria for hosting the event. Please visit my blog for upcoming pepelicula screenings and Radio Bandido, my lastest project, updates.

Radio Bandido
With a bludgeoned body and lungs full of seawater, Oscar Gomez was found along the shores of Santa Barbara, CA in mid November, 1994. Oscar was 21 years old, a Chicano activist, radio DJ, and he was my friend.

Oscar was in Santa Barbara at a rally protesting and covering the newly passed Proposition 187, the anti-immigrant initiative, when he was killed. People believe what took place that fatal night was a conspiracy by the authorities, some a premeditated murder and others an accident. Who would of wanted to kill Oscar?

Radio Bandido explores Oscar’s life, his murder and the Chicano political turmoil of California in the 1990’s that transformed Oscar from a football jock into an important DJ activist known as “El Bandido”.

c/s
-pepelicula

hey there fellow earthlings and humans with & without documents or documentaries.  this is my first official blog. who cares? well, i kinda do.  anyway, just wanted to salute everyone out there and inform the public that tonight my four year old documentary will be playing at the world famous Galeria de la Raza on 24th Street & Bryant in the Mission District of the city by the bay.  If you can’t stop by, eat some mangoes and stop by my blog and I’ll keep you posted with all pepelicula’s.  There’s a few in the mix and I will soon tell you about them.

Below is the trailer for tonight’s film. Blog ya l8r/Ay te blogeo!

Fruit of Labor (trailer)

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