Ethnic Studies have given a platform for performances and a variety of films on critical topics at The Second Annual Race and Power Film Festival and the Third Annual Ethnic Studies Conference that took place on April 30th to May 3rd.
 Marco Romo Gonzalez, Ethnic Studies Program Student Assistant, explained the goal of this event, “The Race and Power film festival shows films that focus on underrepresented and marginalized voices. The films are important because they focus on critical issues, like; race, gender, sexual orientation, immigration, and/or power relations. One of the unique components of the festival is that the event is free, open to the public, and shows critical movies that you can’t find in a regular movie theatre.”
 This event will be held in a variety of locations on and off campus for students to experience throughout the days from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
 Xamuel Banales, assistant professor and director of Ethnic Studies and director of the 2nd annual Race and Power film festival, described the inspiration that led to this project, “I have taught several Ethnic Studies film courses and some of the short films that I produced have screened in prominent film festivals across the country. The idea of creating a critical film festival emerged when I first moved to Turlock.”

 He went on to say that, “I very surprised that there were no film festivals in the region and that discussing critical topics was not part of the general culture. When I taught ETHS 3110: Chicano Images in Film in the spring of 2017, I created a campus Xicanx/Latinx short film event, where students participated by selecting and analyzing films and facilitating critical discussions. The transformative effect of this film event demonstrated that there was a need for an expanded film festival that could reach a broader audience, beyond an Ethnic Studies class. Thus, in 2018 the first film festival not only took place at CSU Stanislaus but also the State Theatre of Modesto.”

The festival will also be highlighting the work from Ben Wang, director/producer of Breathin’: The Eddy Zheng Story, “a documentary feature film about a Chinese immigrant who became the youngest prisoner at San Quentin State Prison and later one of the country’s most recognized leaders in violence prevention and prison reform” Banales added. Ben Wang has also been invited to the event.
Performances at the conference complimented each nights theme.
Alexis Galindo, a performer from Ceres described his appreciation for music and being part of this the Ethnic Studies Conference. He said,“now I see every performance as an opportunity to have people fall in love with my music and also me as a person, so I approach each performance as genuine as possible…Those shows have been blessings because with the help of them I am getting booked for more shows, which is what I have always wanted.”
The Ethnic Studies program plans to continue these events based on the positive influence it has on the campus and the opportunities it provides for passionate artists.