NYWIFT Blog

AmeRican Poet Tato Laviera: Affirmation in the words, rhythms and blended language of an influential Nuyorican poet

By Lisa Stahl

For generations, the Polish, Jewish, and Puerto Rican communities who have inhabited and redefined the Lower East Side of Manhattan have found its winding streets both a landing and rallying point. The community can wear different faces: either a place of toil and struggle, the twilight region of choice between disparate languages and customs, or a land of aspirations and promise. But to cross that line, to realize one’s potential, is a lonely journey. Something gets lost in translation: the rhythms, words, poetry, and music that inspired you. The herculean fight to overcome poverty for a sometimes unrealized promise of a better life can take a toll.

Tato Laviera

 

No one articulates that better than Tato Laviera, a little known but enormously important Nuyorican poet who pushed the boundaries of language, inspired the spoken word movement, and defined the Nuyorican experience. As an artist he innovated: he combined music, theater, poetry, dance, the power of dramatic contrasts and a commitment to social activism to create a new type of poetry. As both a poet and performer, he documented his own experience and affirmed his community’s worth, redefined its sense of identity.

Vivian Hernandez Ortiz, the producer and director of the documentary AmeRican Poet Tato Laviera, is an award-winning journalist, TV news producer, and documentary filmmaker. In her own words, “Being a Puerto Rican I felt very strongly I could tell his story.” Ortiz’s decades of experience as a journalist for NBC and ABC News and a senior producer for a newsmagazine program on FIOS1 informs her expert storytelling. In this compelling documentary, available on DVD, she pieces together from archived and original interviews with colleagues and family members Tato’s magic, the impact he had on his colleagues and community.

In advance of the film’s showing in the NYWIFT Member Screening Series June 25-29th, 2020, Hernandez Ortiz discussed the filmmaking process and Tato’s legacy. 

First, some definitions:

Nuyorican: a Puerto Rican living in New York. Tato was one of the first to document the Nuyorican experience, according to his colleagues.

The Nuyorican Poets Café on the Lower East Side, was in part inspired by Tato’s legacy and the spoken word movement. The legendary avant garde venue describes itself as one whose artists use poetry, jazz, theater, hip-hop and spoken word as a means of social empowerment for minority and underprivileged artists.

Spanglish: the art of combining Spanish and English in original ways.

AmeRican: the name of a moving signature Laviera poem that endeavors to define the experience of a Puerto Rican growing up in New York.

 

NYWIFT Member Vivian Hernandez Ortiz

 

What role did you play in the making of this documentary?

I was the producer and director. I hired a bilingual editor to work with me, and got a beloved Conga player from El Barrio to play his music to weave the percussion sound with the spoken word about this truly pure artist. 

 

What inspired this documentary?

I love to tell impactful stories. It was an organic transition to go from being a journalist on news magazine shows to documentary filmmaking.  The interviews with Tato, his friends, colleagues, and family members had been shelved for five or six years. When I came on the scene, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work immediately to piece together the myriad of interviews, and figure out the missing pieces. I found I had a big hole to fill. Fortunately, Prof William Luis gracefully filled that hole. I went to work piecing together a myriad of interviews and re-interviewed Tato’s sister, Ruth, to learn about his early life.

Tato Laviera

 

What were some of your challenges?

I was the new person, a Latina with a supervisory role working with a skeleton crew in the media unit at CENTRO [at Hunter College]. [But] I completely believed in the project and in telling Tato’s story. I am an advocate and a mentor to young men and women in our community. 

 

How do you feel this film resonates with the Black Lives Matter movement?

Tato’s message was really about being inclusive; “he” is a “we.”  Assimilation is an issue for any culture adopting to the ways of the their new homeland. You can go back home but the community you left behind may not accept you for who you’ve become. ‘Neither here, nor there’ [as Tato said]: you don’t fit in. In his unique way Tato raised consciousness. [Nuyoricans] are a people marginalized in our own culture, blended racially and culturally. In the film a local activist says she thought Tato was a better community activist than a poet. He made a great impact. He was beloved by the people. He would light up the room. His message is also inclusive. His philosophy is to grow as an individual.

 

What do you feel was most satisfying about making this movie?

I captured the essence of the man, through his love of the spoken word, through the lively sounds of our music, from his deep relationships with people, and his unfailing love for his Puerto Rican family.

 

Watch AmeRican Poet Tato Laviera any time June 25-29th as part of NYWIFT’s Member Screening Series. Then tune in to a Q&A with filmmaker Vivian Hernandez Ortiz on Monday, June 29th at 5 PM EST. Register for both now

 

AmeRican Poet Tato Laviera was produced by the Center for Puerto Rican Studies/Hunter College/CUNY (Centro).

PUBLISHED BY

Lisa Stahl

Lisa Stahl Lisa Stahl has followed her own unconventional path, working in and out of the industry, behind and in front of the camera (TV and film), and as a writer, producing e-learning courses on personal style online, doing development research and writing for a UN-based TV show, extensive investigative research in politics and international affairs for a prominent political strategist, and as a lifestyle editor for a chic digital magazine interviewing prominent fascinating people in the entertainment, fashion, health, wellness, and travel industries. She has also worked recently as a technical writer covering the latest anti-terrorism technologies and developments in data science and artificial intelligence.

View all posts by Lisa Stahl

Comments are closed

Related Posts

Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Meryl Jacobs

Welcome to NYWIFT, Meryl Jacobs! Driven by a lifelong passion for the arts, Meryl Jacobs creative professional has built an inspiring career spanning advertising, Broadway stage management, and post-production as an award-winning video editor and business owner. Embracing challenges with optimism, she believes in the power of self-belief and continuous growth. After returning to New York post-pandemic, she launched her own company, Gotham Edit Inc., confident in the value she provides to clients. Among her proudest achievements are collaborations with Universal Pictures, a corporate branding reel for Tumi, and a recognized PSA for the City of Los Angeles on senior scams. Grateful for every opportunity, she remains dedicated to creating impactful work that helps others. Read on to learn more about her fascinating career!

READ MORE

Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Pia Mechler

Welcome to NYWIFT, Pia Mechler! Pia Mechler, born and raised in Germany with German, Chilean, and Polish heritage, is a versatile actress, writer, and director. Studying film in Denmark and beginning her acting career in Berlin, she took her skills to the UK and then New York City in 2010, where she also took up directing. Pia wrote, directed, and starred in the web series Almost Settled and made her feature directorial debut with Everything is Wonderful, which premiered at the Thessaloniki Film Festival and was a finalist at the Chelsea Film Festival. Her latest project, Black Hole, which she wrote to address the challenges of female aging and ageism from a humorous perspective, is currently on its festival tour. Read on to discover her inspiring international background, her dedication to her projects, and her process when it comes to making films.

READ MORE

NYWIFT Member Spotlight: Myrta Vida

Myrta Vida is an award-winning writer and independent filmmaker specializing in features, shorts, documentaries, and stage productions. She serves as a producer at 3DMC, the production company behind the John Cassavetes Award-winning feature Premature (2019) and the Sundance Award-winning hybrid documentary The Infiltrators (2019). Since 2010, Myrta has worked as a story consultant and script doctor for independent filmmakers worldwide. A proud Army veteran from Puerto Rico, she earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and completed a conservatory program in screenwriting at the New York Film Academy, both with summa cum laude honors. Additionally, she holds a certificate in sketch comedy writing from the Upright Citizens Brigade and was a 2022 Fellow with Third World Newsreel. Get to know her in our latest interview!

READ MORE

Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Marci Clark

NYWIFT is excited to welcome new member Marci Clark! Whether you were tuning into MTV during the mid-90s or consider Super Bowl ads to be immersive entertainment, there is a good chance you’ve engaged with remarkable content in which Marci has left an indelible mark! Marci is now Co-owner & Chief Marketing Officer of a location agency, The Scout Source, representing over 800 production-friendly locations in the Tristate area. Check out her blog feature where we converse about the evolution of her dynamic career in the film and television industry as a marketing professional, her talent and enthusiasm for linking content creators to incredible location sites for them to shoot their projects, and the iconic cartoon character who she “butted heads” with (no pun intended)!

READ MORE
JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER
css.php