TAMIU Faculty Member Earns 2023 Cinema Verde Award
Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) associate professor Marcela Morán was named the recipient of a Cinema Verde Award as part of the 2023 Cinema Verde 14th Annual Film and Arts Festival.
Morán’s Award in the Waste Category was for her documentary produced with collaborator Maritza Bautista, titled “Cardboard Scavengers.” The film is also the 2023 recipient of the Best Direction Award from the Environmental Feedback Film Festival.
The film explores the daily on-the-street manual cardboard recycling that occurs in Laredo, providing a source of income for generations of families from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, México. Those who do this have come to be called “cartoneros.”
Morán shared the documentary’s origins.
“While shooting a film about border women (Fronteriza) we came across information about an older woman who collected cardboard in downtown Laredo and had been doing so for very many decades. We wanted to include her in Fronteriza, however, we discovered that she had retired and met Chole, her daughter, and Beto, Chole’s husband. Meeting them ignited the idea of making this documentary,” she explained.
“The principal photography was done in the summer of 2019. Post-production on the project began in the fall of 2019. Production and post-production ground to a complete halt in March 2020 with the COVID-19 Pandemic. We needed pick-up shots and additional information, but no longer had access. Our border shut down. People like Chole and Beto were unable to cross into the U.S. for nearly two years,” Morán recalled.
The film, which remains in competition, will be available for viewing through a soon-to-be-launched, globally-accessed Roku Channel featuring Cinema Verde films and environmental education.
Morán said she hopes the documentary delivers a big takeaway.
“On the border, it is the people that are the least privileged that are doing the most in terms of participating in sustainable practices. Most people in the community do not know why people like Chole and Beto pick up cardboard,” she explained.
Morán is an associate professor in TAMIU’s College of Arts and Sciences, department of Psychology and Communication. A multiple award-winning filmmaker, she has been part of the TAMIU faculty since joining as adjunct faculty in 2003, progressing to full-time faculty in 2006.
She holds the terminal MFA in Film from Ohio University, College of Fine Arts, and a BS in Radio-TV-Film from The University of Texas, College of Communication. Her films have been selected for numerous festivals including the NYC Downtown Short Film Festival, the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, the Harlem International Film Festival, and the Cine Las Americas International Film Festival, among others. She has screened and exhibited around the world including Canada, Spain, Indonesia, México, and across the U.S.
In addition to TAMIU student and faculty shows on campus, she has spearheaded TAMIU student film festivals, collaborations, and workshops with local, regional, and state film advocates.
TAMIU offers a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Spanish, a Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a Concentration in Digital and Strategic Communication, a Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a Concentration in Media Production, and a minor in Communication. Study Abroad and internship experiences are encouraged. For more, email psychology-communication@tamiu.edu. The Communication program has received support for a New Media Innovation Lab to help accelerate the career trajectories of Communication students.
At the Graduate level, TAMIU offers a Master of Arts in Communication with specializations in Border and Latin American Media Studies, or Organizational Communication in Transnational Settings. For more, contact the Graduate School at 956.326.3020.
As a result of actions taken by the Texas Legislature to address affordability in higher education, all resident undergraduate academic costs, including tuition, mandatory academic fees, all academic-related general fees, and college course fees, have been frozen for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years at TAMIU. The University has not raised tuition and fees since 2021.
Registration for Fall 2023 is currently underway. To learn more about TAMIU’s Registration, processes, visit https://www.tamiu.edu/reghub/.
Classes for the Fall 2023 semester begin Monday, Aug. 28, 2023. Late registration ends Friday, Sept. 1.
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