Film Premiere about 1974 death of CU Activists

PUEBLO - Colorado State University-Pueblo will premiere a film produced by award-winning filmmaker Nicole Patrice Esquibel that answers the question, “Who was Neva Romero and what did she live and die for?” The new documentary film, Jamas Olvidados, which translates to ‘never forgotten,’ tells the story of Neva Romero, 21, and five other activists killed in two car bombs within a 48-hour period in May 1974 in Boulder, Colorado.

Jamas Olvidados will premiere at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 28 in the Hasan School of Business Auditorium. A reception for Esquibel will be held at 6 p.m. and a showing will follow at 7 p.m. The viewing is free and open to the public and made possible by the sponsorship of CSU-Pueblo’s Colorado Chicano Movement Archives. Some of Esquibel’s research for the film was conducted through the local archives.

Romero and two others — Reyes Martinez and Una Jaakola — died in the first of the car bombings on May 27, 1974. At the time of her death, Romero was a senator in the University of Colorado student government. Martinez was a lawyer who had graduated from the CU Law School a year earlier. Jaakola was a graduate student and girlfriend of Reyes. On May 28, a second bomb ended the lives of Florencio Granado, Heriberto Teran and Francisco Dougherty. The victims of the two explosions have come to be known as Los Seis de Boulder — The Boulder Six.

At the time of their deaths, CU-Boulder was a hotbed of Chicano activism. In the five years leading up to the tragic 48-hours, UMAS — the United Mexican American Students — had grown from a handful of Chicanos and Chicanas to roughly 1,400 students. Alarmed by this rapid growth, university officials were attempting to put it to a halt by delaying financial aid funds the students relied upon.

After several unsettling months, which included a brief takeover of Regent Hall and an even shorter meeting in the Colorado Governor’s office, Romero and about a dozen other UMAS students occupied the offices of the UMAS administration. The bombings took place in the third week of the occupation.

Esquibel said she became interested in telling Neva’s story when she learned she and Romero were both born in Alamosa, Colorado. In May 2014, Esquibel attended a commemoration for Los Seis and other Chicano activists held in Denver. After that event, she traveled throughout Colorado, including Pueblo, interviewing individuals who knew Romero and the other activists.

Esquibel is a graduate of the University of Iowa's Master of Fine Arts - Film and Video Production program. Her films and videos have screened both domestically and internationally, including winning the "Between the Lines" award at the Ann Arbor Film Festival. Recently, she completed, La Pucelle, an experimental retelling of the trial of Joan of Arc, shot on Super16mm. Tu Me Quieres Blanca (You want me White) 2010, is a found footage project inspired by a poem by Alfonsina Stori, which seeks to explore the secondary role of Chicana women and Machismo in 20th Century America. “Jamas Olvidados” is her latest film.