written and directed by

Harry Gamboa Jr.

with video commentary by

Juan Garza

When Juan Garza and I were walking along the residential streets of Guadalajara in 1996, I was struck by the potential of his persona as an icon of contemporary Chicano culture.  He had performed in my videos Insultan (1983) and Vaporz (1985).  But somehow, nearly a decade had passed since we had last encountered one another. We were in Mexico at that time as delegates of the NLCC for an international conference on public television.  Our lives had taken on various tones of maturation and complexity but there was enough absurdist energy to generate a few memorable moments that affected my creative production during the next few years.

Upon returning to Los Angeles, I immediately contacted many members of the virtual ensemble cast and explained that I had a concept for a new video and that I would be needing their presence before the lens of my cameras.  I was not exactly certain as to where the project would take us but I knew somehow that traditional Mexican tamales would play a major factor in determining where I might direct my attention.

Tamales have always been a mystery/threat to me in the sense that they are designed to conceal their contents until they are consumed.  One of the great TV moments of the 20th Century was when former President Ford attempted to swallow a tamal whole while it was still wrapped in the inedible leaves of corn husks.  Another memory I have was of when I was a young boy in East Los Angeles and I saw people going in and out of a very large tamal.  I eventually came to understand that the the vision was as a result of Southern California's architectural history where buildings were built in the shapes of animals, everyday objects, and food items.  The "tamale" building still stands on Whittier boulevard in East Los Angeles.

During the summers of 1996 and 1997, I shot numerous scenes in my attempt to realize what ultimately was an intangible impression of tamales, betrayal, loss, and a series of life or death escapades.

In early 2002, Juan Garza participated in the video project Here And Now And Aftermath.  He inquired about the "progress" of the "Tamale Project".  I informed him that the project was dead, but that comment then inspired the scene related to the public massacre in the video project of that day.  I then recollected my thoughts on the series of tamales that were ingested and destroyed during the production of an endless video in the late 90's.

There was no script, notes, or sketches for Haute Tamale. There are various unedited scenes but most are unusable and preferably unviewable lengths of Hi8 videotape.

The many individuals who contributed to this unfinished project have either wrapped themselves in their own impenetrable leaves of opaque questions or have become enmeshed in the daily struggle to survive the onslaught of the 21st Century.  Thanks to everyone who helped in the conceptual tamalada.

http://www.harrygamboajr.com