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Acclaimed writer Julia Alvarez will be the focus of a new documentary for PBS from “American Masters” and Latino Public Broadcasting. Timed to Hispanic Heritage Month, “Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined” will premiere on Tuesday, Sept, 17 at 9 p.m. Et on PBS. The program will be presented by “American Masters” and the Lpb series “Voces.”

A Dominican-American poet and novelist, Alvarez made literary waves beginning in the early 1990s with her semi-autobiographical novel “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents” (published in 1991), followed by 1994’s “In the Time of the Butterflies,” about life under Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. Now 74, Alvarez most recently published the novel “The Cemetery of Untold Stories.”

Alvarez has been behind three nonfiction books, three poetry collections, 11 children/young adult books and seven literary novels.

“Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined” includes extensive interviews with Alvarez, her family and her literary contemporaries. The documentary is produced and directed by Adriana Bosch.

The Handmaid's Tale Season 3 tones down the darkness ever-so-slightly as its world expands.

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This Handmaid's Tale Season 3 review contains no spoilers.

In season 3, The Handmaid’s Tale takes on a topic many of us wish we could crack: how to get women in power to work in solidarity with those with less, to take on men who oppress them all. There are cracks in Gilead’s armor and it’s in trouble when the women work together. But things fall apart disastrously as soon as that solidarity buckles in favor of individual interests. Christopher Meloni’s High Commander Winslow is an intriguing new character we haven’t seen much of yet and Bradley Whitford returns to shed more light on his murky Commander Lawrence, but more importantly, Kristen Gutoskie’s Beth is back, making the most of her larger role as Lawrence’s Martha.

While some fans...

Netflix has ordered Monarca, an original drama series from Mexico produced by Salma Hayek’s Ventanarosa Productions, Lemon Studios and Michael McDonald’s Stearns Castle. Irene Azuela (Quemar las Naves) and Juan Manuel Bernal (Capadocia) are attached to star, and production is scheduled to begin in the fall for a 2019 global premiere.

Created by Diego Gutierrez, who also serves as showrunner, and written by Lemon Studios’ Fernando Rovzar, Julia Denis, Ana Sofia Clerici and Sandra García Velten, Monarca will follow the world of wealthy Mexican elites riddled by corruption, scandal and violence. Set in the powerful world of Mexican billionaires, Monarca is a high stakes, multi-generational family saga about a tequila-born Mexican business empire, and the battle that ensues when a member of the family decides to fight the dirty system her family helped create.

“I’m extremely excited to partner with Netflix, and to be working with amazing Mexican...

Demián Bichir may not be a household name, but he's an actor that's definitely started to make his impact on Hollywood. Starting out in telenovelas in Mexico in the 1980s, the actor slowly transitioned into Hollywood with films like 2001's In The Time Of The Butterflies and 2008's Che, where he played Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

More recently he's starred in such films as Savages, The Heat, and, perhaps most notably, Machete Kills, a film that eventually led to his being cast in Quentin Tarantino's Hateful Eight, as is discussed in the discussion below.

In a phone interview, Kellvin talks in-depth about the acting process with Tarantino, as well as Bichir's upcoming role in Alien: Covenant.

If you'd like to hear an audio version of the interview, you can listen to the one of our recent podcast episodes below! The interview begins around 01:39:11 into the episode.

Now...

Fidel Castro is heading to Ireland. Demian Bichir, who most recently appeared as the Cuban leader in Steven Soderberg's "Che" biopics for IFC, is starring in the Irish indie feature "The Runway." Commercials and short-film director Ian Power wrote the script and is directing the drama in County Cork.

The film is based on the true story of a South American pilot who crashed near a town in Cork in 1983. The townspeople came together to build a runway to get the pilot home and briefly inspired the nation.

Kerry Condon ("Rome") and Jaime Kierans co-star.

Macdara Kelleher of Fastnet Films is producing with Brendan McDonald. Bernard Michaux will co-produce. The Irish Film Board and the Luxembourg Film Fund are co-financing the picture.

Bichir, repped by UTA and manager Sekka Scher, is a regular on Showtime's "Weeds." He has appeared in the features "Don't Tempt Me," "In the Time of the Butterflies" and "Perdita Durango.