Overview

14 reels, 9.5mm, 1920s and 1930s An avid amateur photographer, Mr. Fuentes' films serve as some of the earliest motion pictures made by a Mexican-American filmmaker about the Latino community and experience in Texas. His films feature scenes of border life, Mexican-American parades, and, of course, excited children on Christmas morning. The films named to the registry were shot on 9.5mm film, a unique amateur film format popular primarily in Europe. The films were preserved by TAMI in 2015. A selection of the films are available to view on the TAMI website. TAMI's Executive Director, Caroline Frick, says: "We are thrilled to learn of the inclusion of the Fuentes Family Collection to the National Film Registry. The Fuentes' films beautifully document life on both sides of the Texas-Mexico border, and illustrate the rich confluence of cultures that has made, and continues to make, Texas' story vital to understanding the United States."