蜜柚直播

The 64-year-old 蜜柚直播an,聽an award-winning bilingual children's book author, was accompanied in her mystical journey by her son, Aar贸n Rivera-Ashford, 41, a University of 蜜柚直播 and American Film Institute graduate. He also was contracted by Disney through Random House, to collaborate on the book.

鈥淐oco鈥� is a film about 12-year-old Miguel Rivera, a Mexican boy who dreams of becoming an accomplished musician and his adventures into the the Land of the Dead on D铆a de los Muertos. He is on a mission to discover the history of his family and why he is forbidden 鈥� like generations before him 鈥� to stay away from music.

The film was released in Mexico in late October for D铆a de los Muertos.

Roni and Aar贸n brought their family to the recent premiere at Hollywood鈥檚 El Capitan Theatre.

Roni spent time at the premiere with actor and director Edward James Olmos, who plays the voice of Chicharr贸n in the film. Chicharr贸n, named for a treat of fried beef or pork fat, is a skeletal musician in the Land of the Dead who is sadly disappearing from the Land of the Living because he is being forgotten.

Other voice roles include that of Miguel Rivera by Anthony Gonzalez, Mam谩 Imelda by Alanna Ubach, Abuelita (grandmother) by Ren茅e Victor, Hector by Gael Garcia Bernal, Ernesto de la Cruz by Benjamin Bratt, Mam谩 Coco by Ana Ofelia Murgu铆a and the voice of a clerk in the Department of Family Reunions is that of Gabriel Iglesias.

After reading portions of the unfinished 鈥淐oco鈥� scripts last year, Roni and Aar贸n teamed up to write the related adventure book 鈥淢iguel and the Amazing Alebrijes.鈥�

The story is set in the Mexican town of Santa Cecilia in Oaxaca, a southern state in Mexico. Miguel embarks on a class project to identify eight of his favorite living creatures and he will transform them into alebrijes 鈥� colorful, fantastical sculptures that were invented about 100 years ago. The sculptures, which are made from paper mache, are a mix of ancient and modern Mexican art.

Roni gave characters in the story to people who touched her life deeply. Se帽ora Sena, Miguel鈥檚 teacher, is based on Tina Sena, 鈥渁 dear friend and mentor of myself and my husband鈥檚 when we were in college studying to be teachers at the University of Southern Colorado.

鈥淪he was a special human being who did not discriminate. She spoke English and Spanish, and we loved each other like sisters, and now she is in the land of the dead,鈥� said Roni of Sena, who died at the age of 71 in Las Vegas of rheumatoid arthritis and thyroid cancer.

Also in the story is a red-tailed hawk and a butterfly that are among Miguel鈥檚 favorite creatures. The hawk symbolizes Roni鈥檚 brother, Mark Capin, who died of tongue cancer at age 49 in Nogales in 2006. Before his death, the two spoke and Roni told him she wanted a sign of him coming to visit her after he entered the land of the dead. That sign would be him as a red-tailed hawk, and that bird, said Roni, has flown into the backyard at her southwest side home several times.

鈥淭he butterfly in the book signifies the migration of butterflies from Canada to the midwest on into Mexico. The legend is that the butterflies are bringing the spirits home for D铆a de los Muertos,鈥� said Aar贸n. 鈥淚 was blown away when I saw the artwork,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he personal touches we put in the book, the butterflies and the red-tailed hawk, made the cover.鈥�

Aar贸n, a director of production and development at Pantelion Films, also wrote the read-along with CD for 鈥淐oco鈥� and Roni translated it into Spanish. 鈥淭he read-along was straightforward. They gave me the script and I had to reduce it from 120 pages to 32 pages using as much dialogue as possible,鈥� said Aar贸n.

鈥淚t was a lot of rewriting and using more structure, and being able to fit the story into a specific space. The story was based on the artwork as well,鈥� explained Aar贸n, whose daily work at Pantelion deals with reading scripts, doing screenings and talking to directors about developing scripts onto the big screen. The company is a joint venture of Televisa and Lionsgate.

鈥淪torytelling is in my blood,鈥� said Aar贸n, who left a successful restaurant business in Chicago and returned to the classroom, receiving two bachelor degrees in 2012, one in media arts and the other in English and creative writing from the UA. He then went on and earned a masters in screen writing from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles in 2015.

鈥淚 love creating stories and my mom鈥檚 expertise in children鈥檚 books combined our talents,鈥� said Aar贸n of their collaboration on the 鈥淐oco鈥� read-along and 鈥淢iguel and the Amazing Alebrijes鈥�.

Roni also wrote the Spanish translation for the 鈥淐oco鈥� related adventure book 鈥淢iguel and the Grand Harmony鈥� written by Matt de la Pe帽a. It won the 2016 Newbery Award. In the story, 鈥渕usic is personified as a live character that visits a town and the whole Rivera family because music is trying to touch the family鈥檚 heart,鈥� explained Roni.

The retired bilingual elementary school teacher grew up in Nogales and comes from pioneering Jewish families. She embraced the culture and language of the community along the international border, which also is home to her husband, Daniel, a retired educator. The couple, who moved to 蜜柚直播 nearly 30 years ago, raised three children and enjoy one grandson.

Children fill Roni鈥檚 life, teaching for more than 30 years in the Nogales and 蜜柚直播 unified school districts and reading to children from her five books, including 鈥淢y Tata鈥檚 Remedies/Los Remedios de mi Tata鈥�, take her to book fairs throughout the Southwest.

鈥淢y Tata鈥檚 Remedies,鈥� which was published by Cinco Puntos Press in 2015, received nearly one dozen national, international and state awards, including two first-place bilingual awards from the International Latino Book Awards. The awards are produced by Latino Literacy Now, an organization co-founded by Olmos and Kirk Whisler.

Those awards, said Roni, brought her children鈥檚 books to the attention of Disney editors.

鈥淚 want to continue building bridges of acceptance, communication and diversity through my stories,鈥� she said.

Disney consultant Marcela Davison Avil茅s, also a native of Nogales, said she 鈥渟uggested and recruited Roni for the publishing aspect of the film.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 thrilled that Roni and Aar贸n鈥檚 perspective is a part of Coco鈥檚 journey. ....I come from a family of Mexican poets, teachers and artists 鈥� so having the book translated into Spanish was critical and important,鈥� said Davison Avil茅s.

鈥淔or decades, Mexican-Americans have advocated for opportunity, equitable treatment and positive representation of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in and by the Hollywood Studio system. Many of those pioneer civil rights activists, and their second generation mentees, worked on this film.

鈥淲ith 鈥楥oco鈥�, Disney reached out to the Mexican and Mexican-American community and invited us to help shape this story in a way that has no precedent,鈥� said Davison Avil茅s.