ASCO: WITHOUT PERMISSION (2025)

A Film by Travis Gutiérrez Senger Presented by Cactus+

This film challenges the limits of documentary conventions to tell the story of a revolutionary Chicano art group who turned 1970s LA into their defiant canvas. Merging activism with radical art-making, ASCO challenged the established order of Hollywood, museums, and media and are now considered amongst the 20th century’s most significant artists. Director Travis Gutiérrez Senger mirrors their boundary-breaking spirit through a groundbreaking approach, weaving nonfiction and fiction together with a new generation of artists. The result is more than a profile – it’s a reimagining of what’s possible in art and cinema, celebrating iconoclasts who were decades ahead of their time.

The film premiered at South by Southwest in 2025 and was the opening night selection of the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, co-presented with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It had its international premiere at the Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia. The film recently won Best U.S. Latinx Film at the Cinema Tropical Awards and will be released in 2026.

IG: @ascofilm

CACTUS+

Our mission is to create an artist-centered model for multimedia arts education and community building that champions accessibility, inclusivity and sustainability. Founded in 2022, Cactus+ is our effort to formalize and broaden the reach of our arts education and community building programs including workshops, youth internships, and accessibility initiatives.

Cactus+ Moving Image’s vision is to create an environment conducive to critical engagement by showing work that takes risks, challenges norms, and opens conversations by showcasing a wide range of artist-driven independent media. As a series, we hope to offer a space for inter-generational attendees to engage with film, expanded cinema, and integrated moving image arts practices made by artists from a variety of backgrounds.

To keep a flow of new perspectives, the monthly programs are curated by Cactus+ as well as visionary guest programmers. We have hosted installations, video jockeys, workshops in stop motion, teen film-making, hosting screenings, and cinema studies.