Short film on Hispanic girl is long on appeal
"White Like the Moon," a short film playing in the Arizona International Film Festival, which wraps up this weekend, is a tear-jerking gem.
Writer/director Marina Gonzalez Palmier's 22-minute film, set in the 1950s, tells the story of Nita (Christel Khalil), a 13-year-old Hispanic girl who is goaded into self-loathing by her manipulative mother.
Nita's mother tells her that there's no way she'll become a professional dancer with a brown face, so Nita must apply skin cream daily in an effort to get a lighter complexion. Nita is scolded when she sunbathes, because a tan would darken her skin, against her mother's wishes. Nita walks outside at night and basks in the moonlight, hoping to get the opposite effect.
The film's tone is dark and painful. Nita, who is driven to despise her ethnicity, wistfully fantasizes about herself as a white girl.
"White Like the Moon" screens along with other shorts in the Cine Chicano program. Screening times are: today at 5 p.m. at Crossroads; and 7 p.m. Saturday at the Screening Room.
For information on the Arizona International Film Festival, including ticket prices and schedules, go online to www.azstarnet.com/~azmac/pages/index2.html. Programs are available at Bookman's.
Phil Villarreal
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