100 Ways to Cross the Border

(100 Ways to Cross the Border)
Amber Bemak | Documentary

2022 | 84 minutes | United States, Mexico

An exploration of the 40-year career of performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña as he enacts interventions by “queering the border” — claiming all borders as queer and liminal spaces.

Visual Arts Biography Sociology Latinx Gender + Sexuality Studies Migration Studies Race + Ethnicity North America Dance + Performing Arts Latin American Studies
Synopsis

At a time when there is more and more news in the mainstream media about the U.S.-Mexico border, 100 Ways to Cross the Border (2022) presents the work and philosophical frameworks of an artist who has had a sustained dedication to radical, highly impactful, and innovative artistic interventions on the border. This vibrant documentary explores the 40-year career of prolific Latinx performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña as he enacts his interventions by “queering the border” — claiming all borders as queer and liminal spaces.

‘I’ve been fighting to control my image for only 40 years and the fight never ends!’, notes Gómez-Peña ironically, turning the camera for a moment on the film’s director Amber Bay Bemak, reversing the gaze. The moment encapsulates their life as a Mexican/Chicanx performance artist, activist, and founder of the trans-disciplinary arts organization La Pocha Nostra (LPN), as well as Bemak’s approach as a documentary filmmaker.

Gómez-Peña and Bemak attempt to queer all sorts of borders – not only territorial but also those relating to race, gender, sexuality, and even filmmaking. With intimacy and honesty, this film shares Gómez-Peña and LPN’s ethos and practice, creating an open space for collaboration both behind and in front of the camera, resulting in a work that embodies LPN’s multi-centric and fluid approach to narrative.

An ideal film to screen during Hispanic Heritage Month, 100 Ways to Cross the Border celebrates Gómez-Peña and the contributions his radical, queer, anti-colonial art has made to conversations around border thinking, gender politics, and Latinx identity.

Original score by Guillermo Galindo.

Citation
Main credits

Bemak, Amber (film director)
Bemak, Amber (screenwriter)
Bemak, Amber (film producer)
Gómez-Peña, Guillermo (screenwriter)
Gómez-Peña, Guillermo (on-screen participant)
Houchens, Andrew (film producer)

Other credits

Cinematography, Alicia Aguierre, Amber Bemak, Mariana Ochoa; editing, Miguel Schverdfinger; music, Guillermo Gallindo.


Citation
Cataloging
Keywords
Performing Arts,LGBTQ+,Performance documentary,latinx,latin american,latino,latina,latin american people,hispanic,hispanic people,hispanic people,chicano,chicana,latine,latinx heritage,afro-latinx,visual arts,painting,drawing,printmaking,filmmaking,craft,crafts,architecture,ceramics,photography,video,videomaking,film,conceptual art,installation art,art exhibits,artmaking,photos,videography,sculpting,sculpture,theatre,theater,music,musicmaking,music performance,art styles,art history,plastic arts,fine art,fine arts,visual arts centers,visual arts education,jewelry,jewelrymaking,beaux arts,graphic arts,graphic design,abstract art,art galleries,art gallerist,galleries,gallery,gallerist,gallerists,illustration,biography,autobiography,biopic,memoir,life history,bio,biographer,biographical,personal account,personal history,diary,personal narrative,sketch,profile,personal letters,letters,journal,personal record,gender,sexuality,gender roles,gender identity,sexual orientation,gender equality,gender pronouns,gender studies,gender spectrum,gender norms,gender roles,gender stereotypes,sexual selection,sexualization,sexual awakening,puberty,pubescence,migration studies,migrant studies,immigration studies,refugee studies,diaspora studies,resettlement studies,settlement studies,migration,migrant,immigration,refugee,diaspora,resettlement,settlement,refugees,international migration,continental migration,resettling,settlers,settler,migrant,migrant studies,first generation immigrant,first generation immigration,new americans,new spaniards,racism,discrimination,prejudice,ethnicity,ethnic,race studies,ethnic studies,racist,racial sensitivity,bias,prejudice,racial prejudice,ethnic prejudice,genetics,hereditary,culture,ethnic culture,ethnology,ethnography,ethnic sensitivity,sociology,anthropology,psychology,sociological,sociological perspectives,conflict theory,human conflicts,sociological thinking,conflict perspective,topics in sociology,sociology topics,sociology studies,social studies,people and cultures,human relations,human relationships,cultural studies,culture studies ; "100 Ways to Cross the Border"; Pragda Films
Clips
No clips are available yet.
Festivals

BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA Film Festival; Athens International Film and Video Festival; Lost River Film Festival; Up and Down the River; Territori Performance Festival; Houston Cinema Arts Festival; BFI London International Film Festival; Guanajuato International Film Festival; BAMcinemafest; DocLisboa; Carnegie Museum of Art; Amherst Cinema -  Bellwether Series; Newfest Presents

DIRECTOR: Amber Bemak

NATIONALITY: United States, Mexico

YEAR: 2022

GENRE: Documentary

LANGUAGE: Spanish; English

COLOR / B&W: Color

GRADE LEVEL: College, Adults

SUBTITLE/CC: AVAILABLE

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: NOT AVAILABLE

Existing customers, please log in to view this film.

New to Pragda? Register to request a quote.

Related Films

READ MORE

Marina Abramovic in Brazil: The Space in Between

Documentary Brazil
Marina Abramović travels through Brazil in search of personal healing and artistic inspiration, experiencing sacred rituals and revealing her creative process.
READ MORE

Swing and Sway

Vai e vem
Documentary, Experimental United States, Brazil
Against the backdrop of a tumultuous 2020 marked by pandemics, elections, and social upheavals, the two friends embark on a thought-provoking exploration of feminist cinematic expression and the female experience.
READ MORE

Jaar. Lament of the Images

JAAR el lamento de las imágenes
Documentary Chile
Alfredo Jaar is one of the most uncompromising and innovative artists working today. To him, art is “the last place” of freedom, and he displays his work as an act of resistance.
READ MORE

Arid Zone

Zona árida
Documentary Brazil
Brazilian director Fernanda Pessoa was 15 years old and experienced being a foreign exchange student for one year in conservative Mesa, AR. Now she’s back to try to understand her experience.
READ MORE

They Called Me King Tiger: A Biography of the Chicano Malcolm X

Me llamaban el Rey Tigre
Documentary Mexico
A balanced view of Reies López Tijerina, who inspired Mexican-American college students of the late 1960s and early 1970s to start the Chicano Civil Rights Movement that stressed ethnic pride, ethnic studies, and opposition to police brutality.
READ MORE

Latino Americans, Ep. 05 - Prejudice and Pride

Documentary, Series United States
Witness the creation of “Chicano” identity as labor leaders organize farm workers in California and activists push for better education opportunities for Latinos.
READ MORE

The Journey of Monalisa

Documentary Chile, United States
Chilean-born performer and writer Iván Monalisa fully embraces his / her dual selves: scrappy, masculine Iván as well as diva, transvestite sex-worker Monalisa.
READ MORE

Zoot Suit Riots

Documentary United States
In June 1943, the murder of José Diaz ignited a firestorm in Los Angeles. Revisit the violent events of the next summer, culminating in riots between servicemen and Latino youth.
READ MORE

Vicente Ruiz: In Real Time

Vicente Ruiz: A tiempo real
Documentary Chile
An exploration of the social role of art through one of the leading figures of the Chilean counterculture of the 1980s: Vicente Ruiz.
READ MORE

Cravos

Documentary Brazil
Photographer Christian Cravo travels through Africa, exploring his efforts to overcome traumas while navigating familial disagreements and memories.
READ MORE

Bad Hombres

Documentary The Netherlands
Journalist Stef Biemans travels between Guatemala and the U.S. during the first months of the Trump Administration, to see what the so-called ‘bad hombres’ hope to find in the U.S.
READ MORE

Stealing Rodin

Robar a Rodin
Documentary Chile, France
Traces the story of Luis Onfray as he explains the personal and artistic reasons for pulling off Chile’s greatest art theft.
READ MORE

Horizons

Horizontes
Documentary Cuba, Switzerland
Alicia Alonso’s splendor still radiates throughout the world of ballet today. A star so brilliant, she has captivated audiences worldwide. Even now at the age of ninety, she continues to encourage the dreams of young dancers who seek to follow in her footsteps.
READ MORE

Zurita, You Will See Not to See

Zurita, verás no ver
Documentary Chile
National Literature Award Laureate Raúl Zurita is not only one of Latin America’s most celebrated and controversial living poets; he is also a rocker, a human rights activist, a public figure, and a tireless struggler. This documentary is an account of his travels and daily life, as he reflects on topics such as state terrorism and death.
READ MORE

Art21: Borderlands

Documentary United States
Five acclaimed artists create ambitious public artworks, photographs, sculptures and performances during one of the most divisive moments in the history of the U.S. and Mexico border.
READ MORE

Inner Borderlines

Visions of America Through the Eyes of Alejandro Morales
Documentary Spain
In a trip around Southern California, Alejandro Morales, a pioneer of Chicano culture, presents a unique vision of America, as he explores a variety of topics that concern the Chicano/Latino community.
READ MORE

Angélica [a tragedy]

Angélica [una tragedia]
Documentary Spain
Recipient of important awards in Spain and abroad, Angélica Liddell's dramaturgy is considered one of the most avant-garde in contemporary European theater. As Liddell starts working in her new play, director Manuel Fernández-Valdés decides to capture her rehearsal process on camera.
READ MORE

Tania Libre

Tania libre
Documentary Cuba, United States, Germany
In a fascinating and novel approach, Lynn Hershman Leeson allows us to eavesdrop on one of the world’s most celebrated—and daring—Cuban artists, Tania Bruguera’s session with Dr. Frank Ochberg, a New York-based psychiatrist and pioneer in post-traumatic stress disorder and the Stockholm syndrome.
READ MORE

Latino Americans, Ep. 04 - The New Latinos

Documentary, Series United States
Review the decades after World War II through the early 1960s, as swelling numbers of immigrants from Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic seek economic opportunities.
READ MORE

Erasing The Border

Documentary Mexico, United States
Mexican American artist Ana Teresa Fernández imagines a creative way to make the US-Mexico border wall disappear.
READ MORE

Off the Road

Fuera del camino
Documentary, Musical Mexico, United States
Each year, the slow-paced lifestyle on Mexico’s largest desert in Baja Peninsula is given a turbo boost by the Baja 1000, the largest off-road motorsport race in the world.

Related Collections

Mexican Films

A collection of fascinating titles, from recent films to restored jewels, that highlight the significance of Mexican cinema’s quality and status while encompassing different aspects of the country's culture and traditions.

Number of titles: 70

SEE COLLECTION >
The Pragda Complete Film Collection

The essence of Spain and Latin America captured in their original language with English captions or subtitles.

Number of titles: 500

SEE COLLECTION >
The Arts

A fascinating journey into the creative process and the transformative power of artistic expression.

Number of titles: 113

SEE COLLECTION >
Spanish Language Films

A cinematic highlight of the magic and diversity of the Spanish language.

Number of titles: 440

SEE COLLECTION >
Latinx Visions

A powerful collection of films that explore the rich cultural tapestry of the Latinx community.

Number of titles: 39

SEE COLLECTION >
Immigration and Exile

A captivating exploration of migration and exile experiences.

Number of titles: 109

SEE COLLECTION >
LGBTQ+

An insightful view into the struggles and triumphs of the LGBTQ+ and gender non-conforming community in Latin America and Spain.

Number of titles: 55

SEE COLLECTION >