Cinema Junkie by Beth Accomando

San Diego Mesa College's Black Studies Department will be hosting a screening of Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi's 2003 documentary Inventos: Hip Hop Cubanos on Wednesday April 30 at 6:00 pm on campus in G-101. Filmmaker Jacobs-Fantauzzi will present the screening, and stay for a reception and DVD signing. The title Inventos refers to the ability to make something from nothing, and to the way Cubans have come to deal with the difficulties of daily life that have resulted from the U.S. embargo of their island nation. Hip-hop provides one creative means of coping. Filmmaker Jacobs-Fantauzzi serves up a portrait of these underground artists and the social context in which their art exists. Among those that he follows are Anonimo Consejo, Grandes Ligas, Obsesion, Dead Prez, Tony Touch, and Havana-based producers Pablo Herrera and Ariel Fernandez. Jacobs-Fantauzzi says "hip-hop is a voice for the voiceless and it reflects the society that it comes from." His film celebrates those who use their art and their voice for a purpose and to encourage change. Thanks to Starla Lewis, of Mesa College's Black Studies Department, who alerted me to the screening. She said there was one earlier today that drew a large and enthusiastic crowd. The filmmaker will also screen a trailer for his film Homegrown: Hip-Life in Ghana . So if you like hip-hop or socially conscious docs, this sounds like somthing you'd want to check out.