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

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with The Storm That Swept Mexico

Raymond Telles’s documentary tells the gripping story of the Mexican Revolution. The Storm That Swept Mexico premieres May 15 on public television.

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 effected its relationships with the rest of the world. The Storm That Swept Mexico looks at the complex historical, social, political, economic, and cultural forces that shaped the revolution, influenced its course, and determined its consequences and legacy.

Produced in association with Latino Public Broadcasting, check out the LPB blog for an exclusive Q&A with Director/Producer Raymond Telles.

The Storm That Swept Mexico premieres May 15 on PBS (check local listings).

Watch the trailer after the jump >>

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Tags: Cinco De Mayo, Latino Public Broadcasting, LPB, Mexican Revolution, Mexico

ITVS-Funded Circo Opens in New York

The documentary Circo has its theatrical release on Friday at the IFC Center in New York City.

Set within a century-old travelling circus, Circo is an intimate portrait of a Mexican family struggling to stay together as they travel and perform along the back-roads of Mexico.

Filmmaker Aaron Schock will be on hand at the NYC screening and discussing the film afterwards in a Q&A.

For our West Coast audience, Circo opens at the Landmark Nuart Theater in Los Angeles on April 8th, and in the Bay Area on April 15.

Find a complete screening schedule of Circo here.

Tags: Circo, IFC, Los Angeles, Mexico, New York, Theatrical

Stories of Immigration Front and Center on Global Voices

Paper Words by filmmaker Joyce Lee

Take an intimate look at immigration this Sunday on Global Voices on PBS WORLD. First up, Paper Words by filmmaker Joyce Lee. The 3-D animated short tells the story of a bright 5-year-old from China who uses her imagination to cope with her new life in a small, Midwestern town.

Then stay tuned for Point of Entry by filmmaker Zeus Quijano. The film follows Carlos, an undocumented immigrant living in the U.S. with his wife and two children. At 15, Carlos came to America and left his life and family behind in Mexico. Now Carlos is 30 and continues to send money home to his family.

Enoy the films this Sunday and be sure to become a fan of Global Voices on Facebook to find out about upcoming broadcasts, and keep up with the filmmakers and news surrounding the stories you see on TV.

Tags: 3-D, animation, Arizona, citizenship, immigration, ITVS, Mexico, PBS, public television

In The News: The Latest on ITVS Programs

[Werner Herzog] the last of the great auteur directors voices the role of a plastic grocery bag in [Plastic Bag], a philosophical short film by much-tipped director Ramin Bahrani.
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Old men with energy, high spirits and full capacities are inherently charming, and Pei, who has charmed his way across the planet and left a huge imprint on it, charms yet again [in I.M. Pei: Building China Modern].
Read now >>

Host Michel Martin speaks with Edward Tom, principal of the Bronx Center for Science & Mathematics, and filmmaker Christopher Wong [of Whatever It Takes].
Listen now >>

Whatever It Takes is strongest when it makes precisely this point: that however much we embrace the “tough love” idea, it is by definition a small-scale effort.
Read now >>

Lost Souls is the sort of documentary that approaches reality television terrain. Yet it seriously presents themes of personal responsibility and redemption.
Read now >>

Tags: architecture, Bronx, China, education, IM Pei, Mexico, New York

Lost Souls (Animas Perdidas) Premiering Tonight on Independent Lens on PBS

“With brave and brutal honesty, [Filmmaker Monika] Navarro, 31, turns the camera on her own clan as she explores a family history that embodies the best and worst of the relationship between the U.S. and Mexico.”
- Hispanic Magazine

Augie and Gino were living the American dream — raised and educated in the United States and proud veterans of the U.S. military. But in 1999, these two brothers were forced to leave the only country they’d ever known and had pledged to protect. Follow filmmaker Monika Navarro on her familial journey to Mexico as she pieces together the tragic events of her uncles’ deportation and opens a Pandora’s box of family secrets.

Check out a preview of tonight’s broadcast below:

Lost Souls (Animas Perdidas) premieres tonight, Tuesday, March 23 at 10:00 on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings). A co-production of ITVS in association with WGBH-Boston and LPB.

Tags: deportation, family, immigration, Mexico, Military

Behind the Scenes of Lost Souls (Animas Perdidas)

Augie and Gino were living the American dream –– raised and educated in the United States and proud veterans of the military. But in 1999, these two brothers were forced to leave the only country they’d ever known and had pledged to protect. Airing next Tuesday, March 23 at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS, filmmaker Monika Navarro goes on a journey across the border to Mexico to piece together the tragic events of her uncles’ deportation and opens a Pandora’s box of family secrets.

Watch this exclusive behind-the-scenes video from Lost Souls (Animas Perdidas) in which Navarro explains the deeper themes of her film, including shifting definitions of “home” and “truth” in a family affected by addiction and deportation.

Lost Souls (Animas Perdidas) airs Tuesday, March 23 at 10:00 on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings). A co-production of ITVS in association with WGBH-Boston and LPB.

Tags: behind-the-scenes, deportation, family, immigration, Mexico, Military

Watch SEÑORITA EXTRAVIADA on Global Voices on PBS WORLD

“Lourdes Portillo’s elegiac SEÑORITA EXTRAVIADA documents with low-key persistence the conditions in Ciudad Juárez,” Los Angeles Times

Since 1993, over 400 young women have been raped and murdered in Juarez, Mexico. Authorities ignore pleas for justice from the victims’ families, and the crimes go unpunished. Most disturbingly, evidence of government complicity remains uninvestigated as the killings continue to this day. SEÑORITA EXTRAVIADA is a haunting look at a heinous crime wave amid the corruption of one of the world’s biggest border towns.

SEÑORITA EXTRAVIADA airs Sunday, August 30 at 10:00 PM on Global Voices on PBS WORLD (check local listings). A co-presentation with Latino Public Broadcasting and P.O.V.

Tags: crime, Mexico, women

Open Call Recipient: Aaron Schock, Filmmaker of CIRCO

ITVS funds, distributes and promotes new programs produced by independent producers primarily for public television and beyond.

Aaron Schock produced and directed CIRCO, which looks at the hardscrabble Ponce family circus in Mexico who are struggling to preserve their art and way of life against a collapsing rural economy. Schock received ITVS’s Open Call funding and in the clip below discusses what food inspires his work and how documentary can serve as a tool to break down barriers and create a greater understanding of other people and cultures.

Interested in applying for Open Call? ITVS is looking for single public television programs on any subject, viewpoint or style. We fund programs that bring new audiences to public television and expand civic participation by bringing diverse voices into the public sphere. This year’s deadline is July 31, 2009.

Find more information about Open Call funding >>

Tags: circus, economy, Mexico, Open Call