Enabling Difficult Conversations Series exploring immigration and undocumentedness at Nov. 12 event

The “Enabling Difficult Conversations” series, designed by the University of Virginia’s College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences to bring together scholars, artists and the public to explore complex global and social issues, opens a new chapter this week with the premiere of four experimental films by Federico Cuatlacuatl, UVA’s Horace W. Goldsmith Distinguished Teaching Associate Professor in the Humanities.

Titled “Quemar las Patas del Imperio (To Burn the Feet of the Empire),” Cuatlacuatl’s new video project will be screened at the next Enabling Difficult Conversations event this Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in the Contemplative Commons of UVA’s Contemplative Sciences Center (403 Emmet Street S). Exploring the topics of immigration, migration and undocumentedness, the short films, ranging from nine to 15 minutes in length, will be followed by a post-screening conversation with Cuatlacuatl, Erika Hirugami, curator of the Global Spanish Initiative’s recently concluded “Fuego Eterno: Soberania Visuales” exhibition at UVA’s Ruffin Hall, and UVA Tribal Liaison Kody Grant.

The Nov. 12 film screenings and post-screening Q&A are free and open to the public. Online registration to attend is requested.

From its origins in 2024, launched with a series of four public discussions exploring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Enabling Difficult Conversation series has aimed to foster open and civil discourse rooted in public scholarship and the perspectives of academics, journalists, diplomats, artists and other thought leaders navigating complex topics.

Wednesday’s Enabling Difficult Conversations event is part of Global Week at UVA, a celebration of international perspectives and cross-cultural dialogue across Grounds. 

Cuatlacuatl grew up as an undocumented U.S. immigrant who held DACA status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program implemented during former President Barack Obama’s administration, an experience that has informed his art and research. Cuatlacuatl examines the pressing realities and social, political and cultural issues faced by undocumented Latino immigrants in the United States; his art and independent productions have been screened in various national and international film festivals in Mexico, the United States, Canada, India, Paris and across Europe.

Last month, as part of a series of Global Spanish Initiative events coinciding with the closing celebration of the “Fuego Eterno” exhibition that featured one of his works, Cuatlacuatl participated in an Oct. 9 “Enabling Difficult Conversations” panel discussion titled “Art, Migration and the Power of Sovereignty.”

“This week’s event is distinctly different from that discussion, which was part of an art symposium hosted by the Global Spanish Initiative,” Cuatlacuatl said. “Wednesday’s event is more focused on undocumentedness and the concept of trans-indigeneity. It’s a difficult conversation to talk about at UVA at this time, especially with the background of politics swirling around immigration, xenophobia, etc.”

Cuatlacuatl added that his status as the first and only professor at UVA who held DACA status “adds to the need and the urgency to talk about these kinds of issues.”

Sam Amago, director of UVA’s Global Spanish Initiative and the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Spanish, said it’s important for the University and the “Enabling Difficult Conversations” series to support events that allow the public to engage with unique voices such as Cuatlacuatl’s.

“This is exactly the kind of conversation that we are trying to sustain at UVA,” Amago said. “This screening combines Federico’s visionary aesthetic with a critical engagement with politics and with community, with history and memory across borders and languages.”

For more information about Wednesday’s Enabling Difficult Conversations film screenings and public conversation, visit the Department of Art website.

Cuatlacuatl’s “Quemar Las Patas del Imperio” video project also will be screened next weekend at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts as part of the Pocahontas Reframed Film Festival on Nov. 22.