On January 24th, the Carsey-Wolf Center hosted a showing of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever with a talk following the film between members of Faculty from the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department: Professor Gerardo Aldana, the Director of the Director of Repository for Archaeological and Ethnographic Collections and consultant of the film's representation of Mesoamerican cultures and played a speaking part in the film; Assistant Professor Daina Sanchez, whose research examines how Indigenous Oaxacan youth form and negotiate their ethnic, community, and national identities away from their ancestral homelands; and Assistant Professor Gio Batz, one of the newest member of faculty in the department and whose research focuses on Central American studies, Guatamalan history, and human and indigenous rights. 

Moderator and interview of the talk was Associate Professor Cristina Venegas from the Film and Media Studies Department at UC Santa Barbara. She taught courses on historym, criticism, and theory with an emphasis on Latin American film and media. 

For more information on the event, please visit the event webpage on the Carsey-Wolf Center here.

In addition to the following talk, Professor Aldana was also interviewed about his consultation with the film through the local news outlet KEYT and Noozhawk, which were recorded during the film awards season where Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was nominated for the Academy Awards in the following 5 categories: Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Song, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Visual Effects, and Best Costume Design which it had won.

His interviews with KEYT delves into detail how Professor Aldana was recruited to consult with Ryan Coogler and the production team of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and the overarching themes that the films imparts through the portrayal of Tenoch Huerte's character K'uk'ulkan and the underwater society Talokan. 

You can find these interviews through the links below.