Spanish Language film programming in Chicago has over 80 years of history.
There are several things in this search project that I am looking for.
- Who was distributing Spanish Language films to local Chicago Movie Theaters.
- What movies were being shown at these Theaters.
- Who was working at these theaters.
- Who was programming these films.
As part of my research process I am doing the following.
- Interview any surviving workers at theaters who were working during Spanish Language programming.
- Talk to anyone who saw Spanish Language films at these theaters.
- Do documentation research at the Chicago History Museum, the National Mexican Museum of Art, Colleges and Universities who have collections of Spanish Language Newspapers and Film Censorship records.
- Colaborate with my colleague in Mexico who runs the Permanencia Voluntaria Archivo Cinematográfico. It is a non-profit restoring Mexican Popular films made by the Calderon Family which had a distribution office in Chicago.
What I have discovered so far.
- From what I can find only two distribution companies were supplying Spanish Language films locally. Azteca films and Clasa-Mohme’s There is also evidence that Columbian Pictures were also importing Spanish Language films after 1957.
- Also K Gordon Murray imported a lot of “Mexplotation” genre films which were supplied to early Grindhouse theaters from the 50’s to the 60’s mostly for the teenage market.
- I was able to locate several locations of the Aztecs Film Offices in Chicago.
- I was connected to artist Nicole Marroquin who was scanning Film ads from Spanish Language Newspapers she had found. Unbeknown to both of us we were basically doing the same research. She was kind enough to show me what she was doing and finding and this would be integrated into my own research with her permission.
Clearly there is so so much more to uncover and discover and the research has been slow-going. I basically need three things to continue the research.
- I need funding, mostly to fund document research and some travel.
- Partner with local historians to help me locate and reveal some of this documentation.
- Find former workers of these movies theaters to help fill in the history.
The ultimate goal of this research is to have a Museum Exhibit showing not only documentation but pictures and audio/video interviews of key players along with movie posters of films shown at these theater in conjunction with some movie screenings.
If you want more information or want to help please contact me at aztecafilmschicagoproject@gmail.com
I would like to thank Nicole Marroquin for her work on finding these ads. I would also like to thank Viviana Garcia Besne who’s family made many of these films and who had the Azteca Distribution arm. Her insight knowledge and friendship has been invaluable to starting this project. Also thanks to Daniella Mazzio who was interested in my project and made it part of her story in the Chicago Reader about Spanish Language films in Chicago which appeared on June 20th, 2024.
