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This book documents the barriers to success encountered by U.S. Latino films over the past three decades, as their proponents sought to secure distribution deals and prove the films' worth as commodities. Over time, more studio and studio specialty divisions have acquired and circulated them; but many film distributors still do not understand the nuances of the U.S. Latino market and how to promote these films. The book includes interviews with marketers, publicists, and producers, and secondary research material from trade publications, newspaper articles, and websites, centering on marketing strategies, release dates, and box office figures. One of the first academic works to analyze the concurrent social and industrial factors within the U.S. Latino community and the larger Hollywood marketplace, this book examines and illuminates the history of U.S. Latino films.
About the author
Henry Puente is Assistant Professor of Communications at California State University, Fullerton. He has extensive entertainment industry experience and is a former film distribution executive.
Summary
Documents the barriers to success encountered by US Latino films over the past three decades, as their proponents sought to secure distribution deals and prove the films' worth as commodities. This book examines and illuminates the history of US Latino films.
Report
«(This) is a welcome and much needed addition to the literature. Drawing upon his own background as a film distributor, Puente takes us inside Hollywood to focus on Latino films, a subject that for the most part has received little scholarly attention. The book is well-researched with a clear, conversational style, making it accessible for any audience, but of particular use to students and professors. Puente's book bridges an important gap in our understanding of Latino films in the U.S., and comes at an important juncture as Spanish-language media is exploding across the country.» (Alan B. Albarran, Director, Center for Spanish Language Media, The University of North Texas)
«A cogent and illuminating survey of efforts by the Hollywood film industry to market and profit from U.S. Latino films since the 1980s. In this book, Henry Puente fills an important gap in scholarship in his meticulous research of the marketing of feature films by and about U.S. Latinos and analysis of factors that have played into box-offices failures and successes over the decades.» (Mary Beltrán, Associate Professor, Communication Arts and Chicana/o & Latino/a Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
«This is clearly a much needed book on the strategies of promotion and distribution of Latino films in the U.S. The book offers a glimpse of the rationale followed by filmmakers, producers, executives and marketers in the uncharted terrain of the English and Spanish language Latino cinema.» (Juan Piñón, Assistant Professor of Culture and Communication, New York University)
