José Rodriguez-Soltero

Birth : , Santurce - Puerto Rico

Death : 2009-05-22

History

Jose Rodriguez-Soltero, a Puerto Rican filmmaker, was a significant figure in the New York art community during the mid-1960s and early 1970s. His films were frequently included in Filmmakers’ Cinematheque programs, he was featured in Film Culture and written up in Jonas Mekas’s Movie Journal column, and was the friend, collaborator and occasional roommate of Mario Montez, Charles Ludlam and Jack Smith.

Movies

The Stone Age
The Stone Age
"The question is, it is either going to be a stoned age or a new Stone Age" - Louis Brigante
Dialogue with Che
Dialogue with Che
Director
In 1967, José Rodriguez Soltero made “Dialogue with Che” (1968), starring Venezuelan artist, actor, producer and dancer Rolando Peña as Che. Warhol superstar Taylor Mead is also featured, in the role of a CIA agent. “The film was partly underwritten by Andy Warhol, who gave a check to cover lab fees. "Dialogue..." was seldom shown in the States - it is entirely in Spanish - but had some life in the European screens. It had a modest run at the Cinémathèque Française, where it was championed by Marie Meerson and Henri Langlois, and played at the Berlin Film Festival in 1969. Historically, it has been shown with two prints projected side by side, the second screen starting with a 3-minute delay. --Film-Makers Coop
Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc
The story of Joan of Arc as applied to the present revolution in arts and more. The Gothic is applied to the War in Vietnam. The film is experimental in the sense that in it the visual becomes tactile.
Lupe
Lupe
Producer
The film — a mix of music, colors, abstract scenes and little dialogue — is based loosely on the life and death of Mexican-American actress Lupe Velez. The music, far more than mere background, borders on serving as the film’s narrative and ranges from classical to contemporary pop music.
Lupe
Lupe
Director
The film — a mix of music, colors, abstract scenes and little dialogue — is based loosely on the life and death of Mexican-American actress Lupe Velez. The music, far more than mere background, borders on serving as the film’s narrative and ranges from classical to contemporary pop music.
Jerovi
Jerovi
Director
A key work of queer and Latino New York underground film, José Rodríguez-Soltero described Jerovi as his “sexual probe of the narcissus myth.” A boldly erotic, dreamlike portrait of Jeroví Sansón Carrasco, who also commissioned and financed the film, Jerovi offers a Narcissus for the 1960s period of sexual revolution, marking a significant shift from the introspective and psychoanalytic use of narcissism by previous queer experimental filmmakers.