Join us for a special film screening of El Ojo Comienza En La Mano (2022), followed by a Q&A with director Yehuda Sharim.

El Ojo Comienza En La Mano is a tribute to campesino histories in rural CA through the artwork of an artist largely absent from critical conversations on Chicanx art, Ruben A. Sanchez, as well as an unsentimental reckoning with the fate of many cultural workers that struggle between paying rent and/or creative endeavors. 2022, 15 min.

About the Filmmakers:

Yehuda Sharim is a scholar, filmmaker, and an Assistant Professor in the Program of Global Art Studies, University of California, Merced. Among his feature films, he has directed We Are In It (2016), Lessons In Seeing (2017), Seeds of All Things (2018), Songs That Never End (2019), Letters2Maybe (2021), and Experiments in Freedom (2022). He has also directed a short film entitled Red Line Lullaby (2020), which chronicles the lives of working women as they seek a more dignified life in the face of neglect, loss, and daily acts of resistance. His films have appeared in film festivals and university settings worldwide, and provide a comparative study of immigration and displacement, shedding light on the changing constructions of home, nation, and belonging.

Elizabeth Michelle Lopez is a Mexican-American producer whose work highlights her interest in documenting stories and experiences of people of color and women. As the producer for Sharim Studio, she leads and shapes new visions for cinema as a vehicle for empowering marginalized groups and creating unity in a fragmented world. At the moment, she is leading the production of Experiments in Freedom and El Ojo Comienza En La Mano. She holds a BA in Cinematic Arts and Technology from California State University, Monterey Bay.

View the trailer.