Brian Huberman

At its peak in the 1970s, Mexico was the world's largest per capita producer of comics. Since then, the comics industry in Mexico has severely declined. This is an overview of the life and work of Julio Camarena Perez, who, at his career peak, was the highest paid "micro comics" artist published by Editorial Continente in Mexico.

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This documentary goes behind the scenes of the 1993 filming of "The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in Pflugerville, Texas. It includes on-set footage and interviews with the cast and crew, and is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the film that went on to become the black sheep of the Texas Chainsaw franchise.

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In 1983 Dennis Hopper went to Rice University in Houston, Texas ostensibly to screen his latest film Out Of The Blue. But little known to anyone, other than Hopper and a handful of his buddies, he had another agenda entirely. While he did indeed screen his movie, Hopper had actually come to Houston to blow himself up. After screening his movie Out Of The Blue, Hopper arranged to have the audience driven by a fleet of school buses to a racetrack on the outskirts of Houston, the Big H Speedway. Hopper and the buses arrived at the speedway just as the races were ending and a voice was announcing over the public address system 'stick around folks and watch a famous Hollywood film personality perform the Russian Dynamite Death Chair Act. That’s right, folks, he’ll sit in a chair with six sticks of dynamite and light the fuse. 'The large guy making the sign of the cross is the writer Terry Southern and the jerk threatening to blow up my camera is the German filmmaker, Wim Wenders.'

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The documentary follows underground comics artist Jack Jackson as he inks his final graphic history, a 166 page story of the Alamo told from both the Mexican and Anglo points of view. The film is comprised of ten visits to the artist's studio over a twelve month period, documenting the painstaking process of inking with an old-fashioned dip pen. Finally, the book is completed but his planned sales outlet, The Alamo gift shop turns it down because there is “too much sex and violence.” Three years later Jackson commits suicide at the gates of the family cemetery in Pandora, Texas.

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Through the Fondren Fellows program, the Rice Media Center Archive Project has spent the past few months sifting through material stored at the now-defunct Rice Media Center. The team has identified several films as especially notable and will be presenting them in conjunction with documentary footage the team shot of people involved with the films. From lectures featuring Roberto Rossellini and Werner Herzog to films from former Rice students and faculty, the film presentation will tell the narrative of the Rice Media Center through the films and filmmakers that passed through its corridors.

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A documentary on the life of Texas filmmaker Eagle Pennell.

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Set on a remote Russian steppe during the Russian Civil War of 1917-1921, a captured White Guard Officer is about to be hanged by the Bolsheviks. Will a reprieve arrive in time?

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This documentary goes behind the scenes of the 1993 filming of "The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in Pflugerville, Texas. It includes on-set footage and interviews with the cast and crew, and is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the film that went on to become the black sheep of the Texas Chainsaw franchise.

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Documentary about the making of the John Wayne film The Alamo (1960). Included are behind-the-scenes photos and footage of the actual production of the film, clips from it and interviews with members of the cast, crew and local residents in Brackettville, TX, where it was filmed.

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The events on the last night in the existence of a little suburban Houston pub. It has to be closed down for development reasons but one of the regular customers, Cowboy, seems to have friends in high places.

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Originally founded as Freedman’s Town after the Civil War, The Fourth Ward is one of the oldest and most culturally significant black communities in Houston, Texas. In the 1970s, the city along with big business interests planned to redevelop the Fourth Ward in order to revitalize the dilapidated real estate and freshen the image of downtown Houston. The price of progress in this case would be the removal of many poor black families. The film explores a complex series of encounters with elected city officials, businessmen and the people of Fourth Ward in order to better understand how a city like Houston works. Who makes the decisions about where resources are spent and so determines the growth and wealth of the community.

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