About this series

Tratos y Retratos, Mexico's long-running arts interview program. Now seen on CUNY TV, starting Sept. 7

"Tratos y retratos: beyond fame, there is the human being."

The interview-based TV show Tratos y Retratos, hosted by Silvia Lemus, is one of the most recognized shows in Latin America. Produced in the most populated metropolis of the world, it has been running on Canal 22 in Mexico City for 13 years. Silvia Lemus, wife of Carlos Fuentes, has interviewed important artists, intellectuals and politicians of the time worldwide, including such names as Anthony Quinn, Henry Kissinger, José Saramago, Salman Rushdie, Fernando Botero, Susan Sontag, Toni Morrison, Steven Spielberg, and Mia Farrow.

For CUNY TV, Canal 22 has made a special selection of distinguished Spanish-speaking participants, from the fields of journalism, literature, politics. The list spans Antonio Banderas of Spain, living in the USA and talking about his career as an actor, to Isabel Allende, located in Chile, talking about her work,as well as such other writers and artists as Tomas Eloy Martinez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Luis Valdez, Carlos Monsivais, Sergio Pitol, and Alvaro Mutis. There are 52 programs in all, traveling through the diversity of peoples, geographies, scenarios, periods, times and cultures. All programs are in Spanish with no subtitles.