Cristina Venegas has been a joy to teach and mentor. She has a broad range of creative, intellectual and administrative skills that enable her to accomplish a great deal with relative ease. But once others discover this rare combination, they want to depend on her and give her more burdens. I discovered this when we collaborated on the Border Crossings event—with screenings and panels. She was much better at it than I was, so I felt I should be HER assistant. She was very knowledgeable about Latin American and Latino media, and was extremely effective in dealing with filmmakers. As an associate producer at Labyrinth, she made everything run smoothly and helped everyone. And when we were making the Blood Cinema CD-ROM, she did the Spanish version. Based on her dissertation, her own book, Digital Dilemmas: The State, the Individual, and Digital Media in Cuba (2010), was recognized by Choice as one of the most important books of the year, not just in film studies but in all categories. It was based on years of primary research. I feel proud to have been the chair of her doctoral committee and have always considered her my academic daughter. She is now a tenured Associate Professor in the Film and Media Studies Program at UC Santa Barbara.
Cristina’s Description of Our Collaboration:
