HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH

Keynote speaker: Edward James Olmos

Hispanic Heritage Month 2002 and Beyond: The Latino Experience: Art, Activism and Education" will be observed at UD this fall with a series of events, including a talk by noted actor Edward James Olmos.

The Hispanic Student Association (HOLA) and the Office of Hispanic and Latin American Concerns will welcome newcomers and help address their concerns during its new student orientation, from 5:30-7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 12, in 206 Trabant University Center.

Edward James Olmos, noted actor, community activist and producer/director, will deliver the keynote address for Hispanic Heritage Month's opening ceremony at 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 7 p.m.) Tuesday, Sept. 17, in the Multipurpose Room of the Trabant University Center. He has starred in several television programs and films such as Selena, My Family/Mi familia and Stand and Deliver. An advocate for the Hispanic community, Olmos currently serves as executive director of the Lives in Hazard Educational Project, a national gang prevention program.

"Ethnic Labels, Latino Lives and the Politics of Naming," will be the subject of a panel discussion moderated by Alvina Quintana, UD professor of English, scheduled for 6 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 24, in 100 Kirkbride Hall.

The Lourdes Portillo Film Festival, a lecture/film screening series, scheduled on three nights, will feature the work of the Mexican-born independent filmmaker whose work focuses on the search for Latino identity. Portillo has received recognition and awards at more than 10 international film festivals for her television documentaries, short films and a video-film collage.

Each of the three screenings will begin at 7 p.m. in the Trabant University Center Theatre:

THURSDAY, SEPT. 26, Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, a 1985 collaboration with filmmaker Susana Munoz, will be shown. This film documents the activist movement of mothers in Argentina who demanded to know the fate of 30,000 sons and daughters who disappeared during the 1970s and early '80s.

MONDAY, SEPT. 30, La Ofrenda, The Days of the Dead, a 1988 film about the Mexican and Chicano holiday, the "days of the dead," will be shown.

TUESDAY, OCT. 1, a discussion with filmmaker Portillo will be held after the screening of Corpus: A Home Movie for Selena, a film documenting the fans of the Tejana singer Selena, who was killed in 1995.

For more information on Hispanic Heritage Month, call 831-2991 or 831-0229.