Escrito por: Milvian Gonzalez 🇬🇹🇧🇿
Because the reporter wanted to accurately reflect the intended audience for the film, this piece was written in both English and Spanish.
A previous version of this article misquoted Edwin Aparicio and Hugo Najera; the attributions have since been corrected.
The Frederick Douglass Center for Leadership Through the Humanities, was misspelled; the article reflects the correction.
The original statement at the top said the piece was written in English and Central American Spanish; the statement has been updated.
Table set up before the film screening at Edward St. John Learning & Teaching Center at the university. on Oct. 10, 2024 (Princess Tatsi).
Varios activistas llegaron a la universidad de Maryland para presentar su película “Las Muertes Mas Bellas del Mundo", que se centra en la diáspora salvadoreña y las diversas experiencias que surgieron como resultado de la diáspora a través del arte.
The film follows the protagonists' lives and demonstrates the ways in which their experiences living in the diaspora have impacted them..
The film was first released to the public on Sept. 18, 2024, at the Gala theater in DC. The third screening was on Oct. 10 at the Edward St. John Learning & Teaching Center at the university.
The movie starts with Quique Avilés’ story, a Salvadoran activist and poet who fled his home country in 1980 at the age of 15, escaping threats of being killed by death squads during the Salvadoran civil war.
La película destaca cómo Avilés enfrenta el trauma que enfrenta a través de su escritura y su arte. Su poema, “Las Muertes Más Bellas del Mundo”, inspiró el nombre de la película.
He expressed that one of the biggest hardships during his time filming in El Salvador was seeing the country’s current political state, it made him feel as though nothing has changed since he left during the war.
“El Salvador is living under the rule of the rifle once again, the army is everywhere and it makes me shiver because it reminds me ‘oh shit i'm back,’” said Avilés.
Merchandise sold at the film screening at Edward St. John Learning & Teaching Center at the university. on Oct. 10, 2024 (Princess Tatsi)
Originalmente el documental se iba a llamar, “40 years and still running,” para representar cómo los Salvadoreños continúan a migrar a los Estados Unidos, aunque la guerra terminó en 1993, debido a las repercusiones de la guerra civil lo cual recibió fondos de los Estados Unidos.
“This is my personal story and journey, being from El Salvador and coming to this country ... it was very hard for me to come and do that project with Quique, said Edwin Aparicio.
“It was very painful to go back and build myself in that place that I fled,” Aparicio added. His flamenco dance performance called Salvador describes his experience as a Salvadoran living in D.C.
Hugo Najera, an alumnus of the University of Maryland produced over 40 pieces of music for the film’s soundtrack.
The film screening was co-sponsored by the Frederick Douglass Center for Leadership Through the Humanities, College Park Scholars, the U.S. Latino/a Studies Program, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center.
Entrance sign upon enterting theatre at the film screening at Edward St. John Learning & Teaching Center at the university. on Oct. 10, 2024 (Princess Tatsi).
Ana Patricia Rodríguez, an Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, helped to host the screening at UMD and was on the board to ensure the film accurately depicted the Salvadoran diaspora.
Al mudarse a DC para enseñar en la Universidad de Maryland, en 1998,conoció a Avilés, quien se convirtió en su amigo y en alguien cuyo trabajo Rodríguez respetaba.
Merchandise displayed at film screening at Edward St. John Learning & Teaching Center at the university on Oct. 10, 2024 (Princess Tatsi).
Along with Rodriguez, José Centeno-Meléndez, an oral historian at the National Museum of American History, and one of the film producers, helped ensure that the film was historically accurate.
Centeno-Meléndez, who received his bachelors in American Studies at UMD in 2012 told the audience that much of his undergraduate education at UMD shaped him into the activist and academic he is today, which helped him help produce this film.
“And it was through those classes, through the intro to U.S. Latina/o studies courses where we sit there and have epiphanies each and every single day about the significance of our family histories ... that really propelled me to walk into the library for the first time and start looking for a book and open it and sit down and realize that rich knowledge has ever been in there,” said Centeno-Meléndez.
Brenda Merino, a senior economics major and one of the current U.S. Latino/a Studies ambassadors expressed how glad the U.S. Latino/a studies program was able to help co-sponsor this event.
“We (USLT) strive to create a space to learn more about our history and for those reasons we loved cosponsoring this event … it’s even more amazing to see our own alumni involved in this film,” she said.
Merino felt very moved by the film because of its close proximity to her identity.
“As a Salvadoran myself, it is even more empowering to learn more about the Salvadoran diaspora in DC through the views of the artists highlighted throughout the film,” Merino said.
Marian Quintanilla, a senior Government and Politics major, also one of the current ambassadors for the minor, said the was also very special to her and hopes others learned more about their history from it
“I think as a Salvadoreña, I could feel the grief not only my parents experienced but also that of thousands of other Salvadorenos. That grief weighs in on us as their children, it was a traumatic experience that my parents and others have never been able to heal,” Quintanilla said.
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