You could think of filmmaker Saul Landau as the University of Wisconsin’s answer to Noam Chomsky, the controversial East Coast public intellectual and social activist who was recently praised, to the outrage of both Republicans and Democrats, at the United Nations by the populist and left-wing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
The 70-year-old Landau, who has just donated his life’s work to the UW, will be honored this week at the University of Wisconsin’s seventh annual Cinefest, a free film celebration of Latino culture, which will run from Thursday through Sunday.