On November 15, we made our way to The Garden (a central Phoenix venue) to attend the private screening of Genesis of Empowerment, a film produced by the Arizona Center for Empowerment (ACE) and directed by Gina Mendez, the organization’s democracy director. According to ACE, through the power of their membership, they have registered a […]

For a few months, we’ve wanted to write a list of pussy power films that don’t appear on your typical lists (i.e., the ones that want to represent strong female leads but always seem to have a component of violence). Just Google “movies with a strong female lead,” and a whole bunch of movies with […]

Having a Bolivian mom (Mother’s Day is celebrated on May 27th there), who lives in Mexico (there it’s observed on the 10th), and me living on this side, generates a lil’ anxiety during these days. Especially because IDKWTF (that w stands for when) I should thank and congratulate all the awesome moms I know. In […]

Choose skipping T2 Trainspotting. Choose other flicks that gladly empty your pockets and deliver a sultry sip of pus. Choose to wait until you can stream it from the comfort of your house: pause it, check your social media feed or run to the kitchen for more shit to stuff your face with. Choose an […]

Filmmakers of La Phoenikera! The iINDIE FILM FEST is now accepting submissions for its 2020 festival taking place in our city during the month of February. Organizers of the festival are looking for entries by storytellers that provide new voices and perspectives. The earlybird deadline to submit a film is August 12 and the guidelines […]

La Phoenikera.com was created to elevate the contributions of Latinxs and other people of color to our city’s culture scene, as well as to shed light on the immense talent of Phoenikerxs. We will always support independent projects because they usually involve a bunch of people coming together and putting their blood, sweat and tears […]

For decades if not centuries, our stories have been in the hands of others. Whether it’s in textbooks, TV shows or film, the history of people of color has not been told by people of color or worse, it has not been told at all. That is why the production of films like Tu Lucha […]

Many critics consider that Vazante, by director Daniela Thomas (Foreign land, Midnight, Linha de Passe), is a film about slavery, race and gender dynamics with the backdrop of patriarchal colonialism in 1800’s Brazil. However (maybe because I am a woman and these things tend to smack me in the face like my momma’s chancla), I […]

To celebrate what last year was proclaimed by Senator Juan Mendez as Chicanx Week (first week of February), MEChA de ASU is organizing their first Chicanx Film Festival. MEChA stands for Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán and it’s a student organization that was formed to promote higher education, community engagement, political participation, culture, and history. […]

Just to let you know, some spoilers lie ahead. You’ve been warned.

Sometimes the word subversive carries a negative connotation imposed by an established order. It says that if you have dissident ideas, your are part of The Red Menace, a commie, a trotskyist, an anarchist. As if any of these denominatives were the most profane insults spawn from the depths of ignorance. Subvert is the act […]

Do you know who Chavela Vargas is? If yes, continue to the next paragraph, if no watch this video before you keep reading. In my mind, I imagine Chavela is one of the founders of the Bad Bitches Club. Este viejón, who was born in Costa Rica in 1919 and ran away to Mexico when […]

Bandersnatch Media is a collective of content creators based in La Phoenikera. This Friday, the 13th, they are hosting a screening of their film Deserted, and this is why we think it’s a must-watch. UNO! More than 20 Phoenikerxs participated in the making of Deserted. Local set and costume designers, hair and make-up artists, production […]

I don’t know how to rate the IT remake. It’s a movie that delivers on its promise to entertain but how do you write a review of a horror film that cracks you up more than it scares you? For realz, sometimes I’d forget I was watching a horror flick. I won’t get purist and […]

Sometimes, Wednesdays are just blah. They’re like the middle child who gets shooed away, or everybody says yes just to shut them up. It’s the day you want to be over so you can get smashed on thirsty Thursday and start the weekend’s long streak of bad calls. It also happens that there’s little to […]

What’s better than going to the movies with your friends? Watching culturally significant movies with them and other cool peeps under La Phoenikera’s summer night…Yay! Trans Queer Pueblo, an organization that creates support and cultivates leadership among LGBTQ people of color, is hosting “Wáchale! An Outdoor Pop-Up Movie Theater for Queer People of Color” (excuse the redundancy). […]

In light[saber] of the new craze brought up by the trailer of Start Wars: The Last Jedi, I must share the fruits of a futile conversation that a group of hella blazed Phoenikerxs had a few days ago: names of bands loosely related to Estar Guars and the occasional album cover (shout out to Phoenikero Efrain […]

Phoenikerx cinephiles rejoice! Today the Phoenix International Film Festival starts and it has massively grown since I covered it for the newspaper during my Limbolandian years. This festival is to local cinephiles what VIVA PHX or FORM is to melomaniacs. It’s been almost two decades since the festival’s inception and steadily they’ve achieved notoriety as […]

This week, Mexican movie Me Estás Matando, Susana (You’re Killing Me Susana) opens in La Phoenikera. The film is directed by Roberto Sneider and the stars are Veronica Echegui and Gael García Bernal, who apparently is the only Mexican actor available in Hollywood (we like the guy, we just think they can branch out). In […]

ONE Spanish movie is playing in La Phoenikera movie theatres right now, and you have less than a week to see it. In Un Padre No Tan Padre, when Don Servando Manuel Guadalupe Villegas de la Garza gets kicked out of his retirement home, he has no choice but to go live with his son. […]