Benjamin Bratt Film Screening at University of Redlands
Filmmaker Peter Bratt will be present for the screening of “La Mission”
The University of Redlands is pleased to announce that acclaimed director, screenwriter and producer Peter Bratt will be presenting his film, La Mission – at the Orton Center on Wednesday, February 22. The film screening will begin at 6:30 pm with Peter Bratt speaking at 8:30 pm. The screening and discussion are free and open to the public. Peter Bratt is an acclaimed director, screenwriter and producer. His films include Follow Me Home (1996), an honest, humorous look at race and identity and La Mission (2009), a powerful motion picture about family, redemption, and community. Both films star Peter’s brother and collaborator, Benjamin Bratt. Peter’s first feature film, Follow Me Home, premiered at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival. The film received critical acclaim from the National Board of Review, and went on to win the Best Audience Feature Award at the 1996 San Francisco International Film Festival and earned Bratt Best Director Honors at the 1996 American Indian Film Festival.
“La Mission”
Written & Directed by Peter Bratt
Starring Benjamin Bratt
Growing up in San Francisco’s Mission District, Che Rivera (Benjamin Bratt) has always had to be tough to survive. He’s a powerful man respected through-out the barrio for his masculinity and his strength, as well as for his hobby building low-rider cars. At the same time, he’s also a man feared for his street-tough ways and violent temper. A reformed inmate and recovering alcoholic, Che has worked hard to redeem his life and do right by his pride and joy: his only son, Jes, whom he raised on his own after the death of his wife. Che’s path to redemption is tested, however, when he discovers Jes is gay.
In a rage, Che violently beats Jes, disowning him. He loses his son – and loses himself in the process. Isolated and alone, Che comes to realize that his patriarchal pride is meaningless to him, and to maintain his idea of masculinity, he’s sacrificed the one thing that he cherishes most – the love of his son. To survive his neighborhood, Che has always lived with his fists. To survive as a complete man, he’ll have to embrace the side of himself he’s never shown.
More about Peter Bratt
As Bratt continued to focus on his filmmaking, he was honored in 2000, with a Rockefeller Foundation Film/Video/Multimedia Fellowship. Through this fellowship, Bratt penned an as yet unproduced screenplay, Four Marys. Bratt co-founded 5 Stick Films, Inc. alongside his brother, Benjamin, and their producing partner, Alpita Patel. Bratt’s second feature film, La Mission, the first film from 5 Stick, premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. It was also selected as opening night film for a number of prestigious festivals including the 2009 San Francisco International Film Festival, 2009 Outfest in Los Angeles, and the New York Latino International Film Festival. La Mission earned Bratt the prestigious 2010 Estella Award, an honor bestowed the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) to filmmakers “whose achievements reveal leadership, creativity, and tenacity, as well as vision and passion for their craft.”
Bratt believes in the transformative power of storytelling and strives to encourage young people to tell their stories. To this end, Bratt envisions using 5 Stick as a vehicle to help young filmmakers of color get their projects off the ground. Bratt was selected by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to be a San Francisco Film Commissioner and works with several non-profits that “educate, empower and employ’” inner-city youth in the media arts.
Earlier this year, Bratt was selected to be the 2010 screenwriter of Washington State’s Native Lens, a series sponsored by Longhouse Media and the Seattle International Film Festival to encourage young Native American filmmakers.
In addition to his pursuit of film, Bratt and his family have a long history of activism in the Bay Area Native American community. Bratt’s mother, an Indigenous woman from Peru, was part of the Indian occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969 and the Wounded Knee stand-off in 1973. Bratt collaborates regularly with the Friendship House Association of American Indians, serves on the advisory board of Amazon Watch, and is one of the founding members of Wicahpi Koyaka Tiospaye (‘Wears the Star Lodge’), a non-profit established to nurture, cultivate and reinforce Native American spiritual values and traditions in Indian communities.
For more information regarding this event, please contact Leela MadhavaRau at leela_madhavarau@redlands.edu or (909) 748-8285.