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Travis Gutiérrez's ASCO: WITHOUT PERMISSION Premiered at the 23rd FICM with Gael García Bernal in Attendance

Gustavo R. Gallardo

The documentary ASCO: Without Permission, by director Travis Gutiérrez Senger, was presented at the 23rd edition of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), attended by festival director Daniela Michel and Gael García Bernal, the film's producer.

The Chicano collective ASCO transformed 1970s Los Angeles into a stage for resistance. With provocative art and political activism, the members of this collective confronted the cultural power of Hollywood and artistic institutions, leaving a decisive mark on the history of contemporary art. 

Gutiérrez Senger recounts that he screened the film in Río Grande, on the border, and that teenagers were very enthusiastic about seeing it. “If I had seen this film when I was ten years old, I can imagine how much it would have helped me psychologically and spiritually, which is why it is important in homes, but also at festivals like the one in Morelia,” he said.

Gael García Bernal, a friend of FICM, said that these kinds of films are very important and highlighted the significance of them being shown in many cinemas and festivals.

"The ASCO movement is coming back because things are getting very complicated. There were demonstrations, people were hurt, imprisoned, damaged everywhere (...) they began to lose everything. We are more afraid today than we were seven years ago," he said.

Travis Gutiérrez Senger called on Latinos in the United States not to be afraid, to be fearless, and to fight through art. “We must continue to be bold and confrontational; we must not be afraid. We must continue to fight to move forward,” he concluded.