Requiem-29 (1970) before and after restoration

Description:

Requiem-29 (U.S., 1970)
Before and after restoration clips

On August 29, 1970, the National Chicano Moratorium Movement held a demonstration in East Los Angeles that turned violent when police brutally attacked participants in trying to break up the legal, peaceful, anti-Vietnam War rally. Many people were injured and three died, including Los Angeles Times reporter Rubén Salazar.

Combining footage from the march and Salazar’s wake with interviews and incredible courtroom testimony, Requiem-29 exposes the brutal racial biases against the Latinx community at the hands of law enforcement, from the perspective of those experiencing it. The individual being questioned in the courtroom is journalist and activist Raul Ruiz, likely because as a photojournalist he had documentation of the protest. Over the course of just a few questions, tension mounts between Ruiz and the inquest officer as the inquiry deviates from the death of Salazar and to an attempt to cast doubt on Ruiz’s testimony. “You are questioning my integrity. I know this because I am a Mexicano,” he says, as the crowd applauds.

Filmed by students from UCLA’s Ethno-Communications Program, including David Garcia and Moctesuma Esparza, Requiem-29 was a class project that was intended to be a documentary about the march. But the emotional, grounded testimony and movement of the people in the streets becomes something larger than just what happened on that day. These lasting images are a powerful, pointed document of injustice that continues to counter the dominant narratives then and today. Requiem-29 has been inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.—Amanda Salazar

Producer: Moctesuma Esparza. Director: David Garcia.

Restoration funded by the Council on Library and Information Resources and the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from 16mm prints. Laboratory services by Roundabout Entertainment, Inc. Special thanks to the Library of Congress; University of California, San Diego; UCLA Instructional Media Collections and Services; UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center.

Screening at the 2024 UCLA Festival of Preservation (April 5–7)
cinema.ucla.edu/events/2024/ucla-festival-of-preservation

Complete Record: Requiem-29 (U.S., 1970) Before and after restoration clips On August 29, 1970, the National Chicano Moratorium Movement held a demonstration in East Los Angeles that turned violent when police brutally attacked participants in trying to break up the legal, peaceful, anti-Vietnam War rally. Many people were injured and three died, including Los Angeles Times reporter Rubén Salazar. Combining footage from the march and Salazar’s wake with interviews and incredible courtroom testimony, Requiem-29 exposes the brutal racial biases against the Latinx community at the hands of law enforcement, from the perspective of those experiencing it. The individual being questioned in the courtroom is journalist and activist Raul Ruiz, likely because as a photojournalist he had documentation of the protest. Over the course of just a few questions, tension mounts between Ruiz and the inquest officer as the inquiry deviates from the death of Salazar and to an attempt to cast doubt on Ruiz’s testimony. “You are questioning my integrity. I know this because I am a Mexicano,” he says, as the crowd applauds. Filmed by students from UCLA’s Ethno-Communications Program, including David Garcia and Moctesuma Esparza, Requiem-29 was a class project that was intended to be a documentary about the march. But the emotional, grounded testimony and movement of the people in the streets becomes something larger than just what happened on that day. These lasting images are a powerful, pointed document of injustice that continues to counter the dominant narratives then and today. Requiem-29 has been inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.—Amanda Salazar Producer: Moctesuma Esparza. Director: David Garcia. Restoration funded by the Council on Library and Information Resources and the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from 16mm prints. Laboratory services by Roundabout Entertainment, Inc. Special thanks to the Library of Congress; University of California, San Diego; UCLA Instructional Media Collections and Services; UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. Screening at the 2024 UCLA Festival of Preservation (April 5–7) cinema.ucla.edu/events/2024/ucla-festival-of-preservation