CarnaVé coincided with kickoff of Hispanic Heritage Month here in States (September 15 through October 15). In Latin America, of course, every month is Hispanic Heritage Month, and festive mood of this brief celebration can be found in everyday life there. Tempted to move south? Don't worry - with Las Vegas its new permanent home, CarnaVé will bring fun back to us again next year.

And winner is . . . everyone, of course. Salud!

"THE BLUE DINER" AT CARNAVÉ 2003 LAS VEGAS

Latino Public Broadcasting Executive Director Luca Bentivoglio screened THE BLUE DINER during inaugural edition of CarnaVé during Cine de CarnaVé, at Brenden Theatres 14 at Palms Casino Resort followed by a Q&A and a reception that included Producing/directing/writing team Natatcha Estebanez and Jan Egleson and co-star José Yenque. The reception was held at Ghost Bar at Palms Casino Resort.

The feature film was presented on PBS by WGBH Boston scheduled for broadcast nation wide on PBS stations mid-September. Funding was provided by Latino Public Broadcasting, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers. Proceeds of screening will benefit KLVX-PBS, Las Vegas.

One of few fully bilingual American independent films, THE BLUE DINER, tells story of how a Puerto Rican mother and daughter confront a lost father, lost language, and lost love. Misunderstood and equally stubborn, these women clash powerfully and comically until they realize how much they need each other. The film stars Miriam Colón (All Pretty Horses, Lonestar) and Lisa Vidal (NBC's Third Watch, I Like It Like That, Lifetime's The Division) with José Yenque (Traffic, The Price of Glory) and William Marquez (Zorro, Forces of Nature).

To read this entire feature FREE with photos cut and paste this link: http://jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/fests/carnave/carnae.html

Rob LaGrone, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent – Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com To book travel visit Jetstreams.com at www.jetstreams.com and for Beach Resorts visit Beach Booker at www.beachbooker.com

During stress of finals, contestants got to have some more fun as they joined several cast members from The Sirens of TI to give a dance performance on decks of two ships. They had to be patient during several "takes" of opening number, as event was being filmed for television. Later, several contestants gave individual performances: ladies from Australia and Poland performed very athletic dances; Czech contestant did a creative sleight-of-hand act while dancing, and contestant from Antigua sang a challenging pop tune.

Hawaiian Tropic owner and founder Ron Rice attended pageant, and during finals he presented special awards to winners of local "Little Miss" and "Little Mister" Hawaiian Tropic competition. The awardees ranged from two to fifteen years of age, and winners of international finals (to be held this summer in Laval, Canada) will attend children's charity events and can appear in advertisements for company's sun care products for kids.

Ron introduced them as "the future of Hawaiian Tropic." He also introduced distinguished friends in audience and members of his own family. Far from a seamy or "spring break" atmosphere, this pageant had an air of wholesomeness and class, reminiscent of last year's CarnaVé 2003 pageant. We can joke about ditzy "beach babes," but I was impressed by intelligence and poise of international contestants with whom I spoke.

The contest was narrowed to 15 semifinalists,

To read this entire feature FREE with photos cut and paste this link: http://www.jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/fests/tropic/tropic.html

Rob LaGrone, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent – Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com To book travel visit Jetstreams.com at www.jetstreams.com and for Beach Resorts visit Beach Booker at www.beachbooker.com