It Runs in the Family

(Lo que se hereda)
Victoria Linares | Documentary

2022 | 84 minutes | Dominican Republic, United States

Victoria Linares uncovers her link to forgotten Caribbean queer filmmaker Oscar Torres, exploring memory, erasure, and identity through reenactment.

Biography Gender + Sexuality Studies Cinema Studies Family History Caribbean Studies Latin American Studies Exile
Synopsis

Victoria Linares is shocked to discover she is related to fellow queer artist Oscar Torres, a pioneering Caribbean filmmaker and activist. Once a world-renowned director, Torres is long-forgotten by his nation and his family. Intrigued and fearing her own erasure, Linares journeys down a path of kindred self-discovery and historical excavation by unearthing memories and staging re-enactments of her cousin’s never-produced screenplays.

Reviews

"Heartfelt tribute from one filmmaker to another" – The Guardian

"If there was one film at this year’s Outfest that deserved more attention, it was Victoria Linares’ It Runs in The Family, which screened on Monday, July 18 at the Plaza de la Raza on Mission Road in Los Angeles. In this deeply personal, richly-textured documentary about her family in the Dominican Republic, Linares traces the life of her uncle Oscar Torres – a pioneer of Caribbean cinema, a participant in the leftist movements of the 1940s and a fellow queer person who had been quietly erased from her own family’s memory." – Jim Gilles, The Hollywood Times

“In the wistful landscapes of Miryam Charles’s Cette Maison (This House) and Victoria Linares’ Lo Que se Hereda (It Runs in the Family), homelands come to life. Charles’s and Linares’s respective homelands, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, are coincidentally the two neighboring countries of Hispaniola, where deeply entrenched colonial, economic and racial tensions have given rise to violent racism inflicted by the Dominican Republic upon Haiti and consequently, decades of diaspora and migration.” – Alexandra Martinez, BLACKSTAR

"Memory is the dominant theme in a film that, though lighthearted, deals with heavy topics of generational secrecy, queer erasure, politics and more. Villegas’ quest to rediscover Torres through her family’s memories of him feels like a way to ensure she herself is not forgotten in the same way." – Emily Leiker, VOX Magazine

“The film is a deep dive into (Victoria Linares) family history as well as wider Dominican film history, including reviews written by Oscar during the Trujillo dictatorship.” – Michael Piantini

Citation

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Cataloging

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Pragda subjects

Biography
Caribbean Studies
Cinema Studies
Exile
Family
Gender + Sexuality Studies
History
Latin American Studies

Keywords
It Runs in the Family,Lo que se hereda,Victoria Linares,Victoria Linares,Dominican Republic,República Dominicana,Republica Dominicana,Oscar Torres,Óscar Torres,family,LGBTQ+,LGBTQ,debut,debut film,politics,ocial issues,history of 20th century,cinema about cinema; biography,family history,film-essay,LGBT,art of protest,emigration,political struggle,censorship,human rights,female directors,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,cinema studies,film studies,cinema,film,movies,motion pictures,film history,film production,film criticism,cinema history,cinema production,cinema criticism,movie history,movie production,movie criticism,history of cinema,history of film,family,kin,fellowship,household,immediate family,extended family,multigenerational family,multigenerational household,kinfolk,family tree,genealogy,nuclear family,modern family,family tree,communications,journalism,news,information,media,new media,newspaper,newspaper,blogs,news site,news app,pulling string,gathering string,reporting,fourth estate,news media,journalists,journalist,reporters,reporter,history,context,narrative,past,chronicle,lore,annals,historic,personal history,archive,record,saga,biography,memoir,study,caribbean studies,the caribbean,caribeean sea,caribbean island,antigua and barbuda,bahamas,barbados,cuba,dominica,dominican republic,grenada,haiti,jamaica,saint kitts and nevis,st lucia,st vincent and the grenadines,and trinidad and tobago,anguilla,aruba,british virgin islands,caribbean netherlands,bonaire,sint eustatius,saba,cayman islands,curaçao,guadeloupe,martinique,montserrat,puerto rico,saint barthélemy,saint martin/sint maarten,turks and caicos islands,us virgin islands,latin american studies,caribbean american studies,island studies,latin american culture,latin american history,latin american politics,caribbean american culture,caribbean american history,caribbean american politics,latin american languages,latin american and caribbean studies,hispanic american studies,hispanic people,hispanic culture,hispanic politics,immigration,migration,refugee,exile,border,illegal,migrant,immigrant,undocumented,deportation,naturalization,visa,green card,permanent,resident,citizenship,displacement,diaspora,resettlement; "It Runs in the Family"; Pragda Films; "Lo que se hereda";
Clips
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Festivals

Brussels Independent Film Festiva; Cleveland International Film Festival; San Diego Latino Film Festival; True/False Film Festival; Málaga Film Festival; DOC NYC; New Orleans Film Festival; Hamburg International Queer Film Festival; Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival; OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival - Best Documentary Runner-up; Seattle Queer Film Festival; Guanajuato International Film Festival; FAFF Fine Arts Film Festival; Trinidad+Tobago Film Festival - Best Film as Decided by a Youth Jury; Vancouver Latin American Film Festival; Third Horizon Film Festival; BFI FLARE LGBTQIA+ Film Festival; Buenos Aires International Film Festival

DIRECTOR: Victoria Linares

NATIONALITY: Dominican Republic, United States

YEAR: 2022

GENRE: Documentary

LANGUAGE: Spanish

COLOR / B&W: Color

GRADE LEVEL: College, Adult

SUBTITLE/CC: AVAILABLE

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: NOT AVAILABLE

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