Bilingual film featured in free screenings

By: PAM KRAGEN - Staff Writer | Wednesday, April 19, 2006 12:29 PM PDT ∞

Fresh from an award-winning visit to the New York International Independent Video and Film Festival, "Ofrenda Desnuda" ---- a film made by North County screenwriter Carlos von Son ---- will be shown this week in a pair of free screenings at Palomar College.

Von Son wrote the film's screenplay, and the film was directed by von Son's brother, Guillermo, who lives in Mexico. "Ofrenda Desnuda" (which is Spanish for "Bare Offering") is the story of a Mexican laborer whose plan to celebrate Dia de los Muertos in his new North County community brings unexpected consequences.

The film was presented last month at the New York international film festival, where director Guillermo von Son received the award for Best Director for International Feature Film. The brothers are now shopping the film to other film festivals worldwide in hopes of finding a distributor.

"Ofrenda Desnuda" was adapted for film from the original play script that the von Son brothers wrote three-and-a-half years ago.

Carlos von Son, who teaches at Cal State San Marcos and Palomar College, borrowed from his pension plan to produce the movie, which was filmed on high-grade videotape in locations around North County and northern Mexico in 2005. It stars members of Carlos von Son's bilingual theater troupe and was filmed in Spanish with English subtitles.

Von Son describes the plot of "Ofrenda Desnuda" as a metaphor for the Mexican diaspora and the efforts of Mexican immigrants to hold on to their cultural traditions in the United States. In the story, Pancho arrives in Tijuana from Central Mexico with the goal of crossing into the United States to find work. While in Tijuana, he sees locals celebrating Dia de los Muertos and it reminds him of his wife, who recently died during childbirth. A year later, and resettled in San Diego, Pancho decides to return to Mexico to retrieve the bones of his late wife so he can rebury them in San Diego and honor her grave each year on Dia de los Muertos. But Pancho's plan goes sour when he is arrested by the Border Patrol and deported. A week later, his wife's bones are discovered in an unmarked grave in San Diego and Pancho is suspected of murder.

The von Son brothers are inviting the public to come see "Ofrenda Desnuda" at two free public screenings at 7 p.m. April 21 and 22 in Room P-32 at Palomar College, 1140 W. Mission Road, San Marcos. For information, call (760) 744-1150.

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Rocker Melissa Etheridge is among the new acts added to the grandstand lineup for the San Diego County Fair this summer.

Etheridge will perform a paid-ticket concert on June 27. Also added to the fair schedule are free concerts by Latin rockers Ozomatli on June 16, Lifehouse on June 28, and Steel Pulse and Boom Shaka will headline the Reggae Day lineup on June 24.

The above-named artists join the previously announced schedule that includes 2005 "American Idol" stars Bo Bice (June 14) and Carrie Underwood (paid concert on July 3); also featured are comedian Sinbad (June 10); Smash Mouth (June 13); Daryl Hall and John Oates (June 15); Gospel Festival with CeCe Winans (June 17); BlackHawk, Little Texas and Restless Heart (June 20); Tracy Lawrence (June 21); Heart (paid concert, June 22); Styx (June 23); Reggae Day (June 24); Kenny Loggins (July 1); "Viva El Mariachi Festival" (paid concert, July 2); and KC & the Sunshine Band, with the Navy Band and fireworks (July 4).

For tickets or other information, visit www.sdfair.com. This year's fair runs from June 10 through July 4 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

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Just four months after losing its longtime home at St. Cecilia's Playhouse to the wrecking ball, Sledgehammer Theatre has found a new home.

The avant-garde theater company will be the anchor tenant in Eveoke Dance Theatre's new 10th Avenue Theatre at 964 10th Ave. near E Street in San Diego. Sledgehammer artistic chief Scott Feldsher said the collaboration between Eveoke and Sledgehammer is a natural, because both organizations like to produce edgy, contemporary work.

"The connection is obvious. Sledgehammer is the most visceral and fearless theater company in San Diego, and Eveoke is our counterpart in the dance community," Feldsher said.

Sledgehammer will kick off its tenancy in mid-May with a reading of composer Francis Thumm's "Tijuana Burlesque," a musical theater piece based loosely on Bizet's opera "Carmen." Thumm's piece resets the tragic love triangle story in a maquiladora factory on the outskirts of Tijuana. The reading, directed by Feldsher, will be held at 7 p.m. May 15. Admission is free.

Sledge's first full production in the new space will be the West Coast premiere of Charles Mee's "Chiang Kai Chek," a play with music that profiles Taiwan's post-war dictator in the context of the brutal side effects of unchecked power and censorship. It will open June 15 and run through July 2.

For information on Sledgehammer's new season, visit www.sledgehammer.org.

Pam Kragen is the entertainment editor of the North County Times.

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