Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with The Storm That Swept Mexico

ITVS celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with Raymond Telles’ documentary and interactive website on the complex historical, social, political, economic and cultural forces that shaped the Mexican Revolution and its legacy.

The Mexican Revolution, the first major political and social revolution of the 20th century, not only changed the course of Mexican history, but also profoundly impacted its relationships with the rest of the world. The Storm That Swept Mexico, produced in association with Latino Public Broadcasting, looks at the complex historical, social, political, economic, and cultural forces that shaped the Revolution, influenced its course and determined its consequences and legacy.

Watch The Storm That Swept Mexico throughout Hispanic Heritage Month on PBS (check local listings).
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Tags: documentary, Heritage Month, Hispanic, Latino, Mexican, Mexico, PBS, revolution

Veteran Producer Raymond Telles Receives 2011 ALMA Award

The prestigious ALMA awards  promote accurate and balanced portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment industry. Raymond Telles was recently lauded with a  ALMA award for Outstanding Career Achievement. 

Telles’s distinguished 30-year career as a documentary filmmaker includes three ITVS-funded films: The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers’ Struggle, Race is the Place, and The Storm that Swept Mexico, a documentary about the Mexican Revolution currently airing on PBS in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month (check local listings).

ITVS is proud to be part of Ray’s extended family, and speaking of extended family, our good friends and co-funders at Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) published a blog post about Ray and his illustrious career. Click here to read the post >>

Watch the trailer for The Storm That Swept Mexico after the jump >>
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Tags: Alma, Awards, Heritage Month, Hispanic, Latino, lifetime achievement, Mexico, PBS

Tonight on Independent Lens: The Longoria Affair

The Longoria Affair airs Tuesday night at 10 PM on Independent Lens

When a Texas funeral home refused to provide a wake for a Mexican American soldier’s body in WWII, it sparked a civil rights movement. Watch The Longoria Affair by filmmaker John J. Valadez tonight at 10 PM on Independent Lens (check local listings).

Independent Lens is excited to offer The Longoria Affair for free in its entirety online in English from November 10 through November 16. The Spanish version of the film will be available to stream from November 10 until January 10, 2011. Visit our video portal on PBS.org to view the film.

Plus, read this interview with John J. Valadez, director of The Longoria Affair, on the Independent Lens blog.

Keep on top of broadcasts, online exclusives, updates, and special contests by joining Independent Lens on Facebook.

Tags: American History, Hispanic, Independent Lens, john valadez, LBJ, Mexican American, Q&A, the longoria affair

Latino Art & Culture Shines in Visiones

Parts three and four of Visiones airs this Sunday on Global Voices on PBS World. The six-part series examines the richness and impact of Latino culture through the eyes of some of the most influential painters, musicians, dancers, and writers working in America today.

The film, directed by Hector Galan, explores everything from New York’s break-dancing community to the theater scene in Texas, offering a truly unique cross section of Latino artists working today.

Visiones weaves a tapestry of paintings, songs, dances, and spoken-word performances to reflect on how Latinos have impacted arts and culture.

Watch a clip from parts three and four of Visiones, airing this Sunday on Global Voices on PBS WORLD.

Tags: art, culture, Hispanic, latin america, Latino, PBS, public television, visiones

Visiones Kicks Off on Global Voices

Visiones: Latino Art and Culture, directed by Hector Galan

Visiones: Latino Art and Culture profiles some of the most influential painters, musicians, dancers, and writers working in America today. Parts one and two of the six-part series air this Sunday, August 15 on Global Voices on PBS WORLD.

Directed by Hector Galan, Visiones explores how contemporary Latino artists continue to build on rich traditions that reflect a unique multi-ethnic experience, taking established art forms and reinventing them, constantly challenging themselves and the communities that nurture them.

From New York City’s breakdancers to mural painters in Los Angeles to stage actors in Texas, the series offers a unique cross section of Latino artists working today.

Check out parts one and two of Visiones this Sunday on Global Voices.

Tags: arts & culture, arts programming, documentary, Hispanic, independent, indie films, ITVS, Latino, PBS, public television

Film Update: P.O.V. Interviews MADE IN L.A. Filmmakers

This week, select PBS stations are re-airing the ITVS program MADE IN L.A (check local listings). The 2007 Emmy Award winning film, which premiered on P.O.V., looks at the lives, struggles and personal transformation of three Latina immigrants working in garment factories and the impact of globalization.

P.O.V. recently interviewed filmmakers lmudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar to find out what happened to the film’s subjects—Lupe, Maura and Maria. MADE IN L.A. has gone on to screen around the world including festivals in Spain, Israel, Brazil and Korea. The film was also screened on Capitol Hill for a select group of Members of Congress involved in immigration reform and policy.

Visit the P.O.V. Web site for an update >>

Tags: Hispanic, immigrants, P.O.V.

MADE IN L.A. Screens on Capitol Hill

Sally Jo Fifer, ITVS; filmmaker Almudena Carracedo; Congressmember Diane Watson; filmmaker Robert Bahar; and Simon Kilmurry, American Documentary | POV.

Filmmakers Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar.

Congresswoman Diane Watson applauds MADE IN L.A. during her opening remarks.

Filmmakers Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar went to Washington, D.C. last week for a screening on Capitol Hill of MADE IN L.A., which documents the lives, struggle and personal transformation of three Latina immigrants working in garment factories. This event included comments and conversation with ?Congresswoman Diane Watson; ?Congressman Luis Gutierrez, chair of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus’ Immigration Taskforce; Frank Sharry, founder and executive director of America’s Voice; Bill Mefford, director of civil and human rights for the United Methodist Church and a leader of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition; and Angela Kelley, director of the Immigration Policy Center at the American Immigration Law Foundation, with brief opening remarks presented by Ted A. Garcia, senior vice president, television content, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and Sally Jo Fifer, president and CEO of ITVS. Simon Kilmurry, executive director of American Documentary, Inc. | P.O.V., was also in attendance. Read the filmmakers report below for an account of this screening.

For the last year and a half, since our broadcast premiere on PBS’s P.O.V., we have been traveling with MADE IN L.A.––co-produced by Semilla Verde Productions, Inc., ITVS and American Documentary, Inc. | P.O.V. We wanted to put a human face on the many issues that intersect in the film: immigration and immigrant workers, labor rights, “sweatfree” organizing and women’s empowerment. In recent months, as immigration reform has returned to the national dialogue, we have put special emphasis on providing MADE IN L.A. as a tool to humanize immigrants’ stories.

We have recently launched a May Day Community Screening Campaign with national organizations in an effort to put a human face on the issues of immigration, immigrant workers’ rights, and supporting humane immigration reform. This Capitol Hill screening was part of this effort––in the midst of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus’s Historic Family Unity listening tour, congressional and community leaders came together to discuss the film and the current state of the immigration debate.

Congresswoman Diane Watson opened the event, which was sponsored by the Congressional Entertainment Industries Caucus, which she chairs.

“As we watch MADE IN L.A., I’d like you to take in the journey that these courageous women made staring directly into the face of adversity and remember one word: perseverance… You’ll see that Lupe and Maura and Maria could have been any of us if born under different circumstances. It is my hope that we as lawmakers and concerned citizens will take the information from today’s film and discussion and apply it to our continuing fight for fair wages, for decent working conditions, and a safe place to work without the threats of abuse regardless of one’s immigration status,” Watson said.

Congressmember Luis Gutierrez, chair of the Hispanic Congressional Caucus Immigration Taskforce spoke about the Historic Family Unity listening tour and how these experiences have shaped his views on the need for immigration reform. He commented how he cried when he saw the film and later added: “MADE IN L.A. is a breathtaking and deeply touching depiction of the human cost of our immigration crisis. I’m thrilled my colleagues and I had the opportunity to screen this movie on Capitol Hill. I urge anyone who is uncertain about the need for humane reform to see this movie.”

Frank Sharry, founder and executive director of America’s Voice, framed the film with passion and humanity: “MADE IN L.A. is a beautiful film… that will challenge all of us to continue to stretch so that America becomes what it might yet be rather than what it’s recently become. And when we do, I think the ‘stars’ of the movie will make all of us feel proud that we were made in America.”

The panel that followed the screening explored some of the previous efforts to pass immigration related legislation, and highlighted the wonderful work of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, Immigration Policy Center, America’s Voice and many other organizations that are working to facilitate a national dialogue around the issues of immigration and immigrant workers.

We are happy and honored that MADE IN L.A. was able to contribute, even in a small way, to this national dialogue, and that both the event and the publicity around it helped get the film into the hands of lawmakers, and policy professionals. We were touched by ITVS President and CEO Sally Jo Fifer’s comment that “MADE IN L.A. represents exactly that kind of deep, authentic filmmaking that breaks new ground and brings us new understanding.”

-Filmmakers Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar

Tags: Capitol Hill, Hispanic, immigrants