Los Angeles Now is a 60-minute
documentary by producer/director
Phillip Rodriguez. It first aired in November 2004 on
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
’s
Independent Lens
''Independent Lens'' is a weekly television series airing on PBS featuring documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of ''Independent Lens'' were hosted by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence Ho ...
series.
The documentary examines the ways in which changing demographics in the City of Los Angeles have created one of the largest and most diverse cities on Earth and, yet in spite of this, the entertainment industry's representations of Los Angeles remain stale, often overlooking the city's vast cultural transformation. The film also ponders the ways in which Los Angeles serves as a diagnostic for other urban centers in the United States, particularly given the influx and influence of immigrants from around the world.
Several prominent
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
figures are interviewed in the film, including actress
Salma Hayek
Salma Hayek Pinault ( , ; born Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez; September 2, 1966) is a Mexican and American actress and film producer. She began her career in Mexico with starring roles in the telenovela ''Teresa'' (1989–1991) as well as the ...
, philanthropist
Eli Broad
Eli Broad ( ; June 6, 1933April 30, 2021) was an American businessman and philanthropist. In June 2019, ''Forbes'' ranked him as the 233rd-wealthiest person in the world and the 78th-wealthiest in the United States, with an estimated net worth of ...
, author and essayist
Richard Rodriguez
Richard Rodriguez (born July 31, 1944) is an American writer who became famous as the author of '' Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez'' (1982), a narrative about his intellectual development.
Early life
He was born on July 3 ...
, and
Cardinal Roger Mahony.
Reception
Los Angeles Now was screened at the Redcat (Roy and Edna Disney/CalARts Theatre), the
Harvard Film Archive
The Harvard Film Archive (HFA) is a film archive and cinema located in the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dedicated to the collection, preservation and exhibition of film, the HFA houses a c ...
s, the
J. Paul Getty Museum
The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa.
The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...
and the
Centre Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
in Paris, France.
External links
Video trailer for Los Angeles Now*
* http://articles.latimes.com/2004/oct/17/magazine/tm-crrodriguez42
References
2004 films
American documentary films
Documentary films about Los Angeles
Films directed by Phillip Rodriguez
2000s American films
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