LPB Newly Funded Projects Bring Stories Reflecting the Rich Diversity of the Latinx Experience1/31/2021
Awards Go to 14 Film and Digital Media Projects that Tell Powerful, Up-to-the-Minute Stories Reflecting the Rich Diversity of the Latinx ExperienceThis year’s awardees tell particularly timely stories. From North Carolina to Texas to California and from Puerto Rico to Mexico to Venezuela, these stories reflect the enormous impact that the past year has had on the Latino community. From the COVID-19 pandemic to a renewed focus on the devastation wrought by poverty and inequality, these films offer an on-the-ground look at the diversity of experience of Latinos here and abroad. “In a year when the concept of ‘home’ has had more resonance than ever, one of the themes that unites these projects is an exploration of the yearning for home, whether it’s the immigrant’s complex connection to their native land (Lo Que Dejamos Atras, Los Desobedientes, Traces of Home) or the struggle of a community fighting to stand its ground in the midst of change (Bartolo, Slumlord Millionaire),” says LPB Executive Director Sandie Viquez Pedlow. “This year’s projects tell stories that explore complex and timely issues through a moving, personal lens.” More digital projects were funded during this cycle than ever before in an effort to continue nurturing emerging filmmakers, many of whom have been hit particularly hard during the pandemic. Says Pedlow, “We wanted to keep fueling the creativity of all Latino makers and enable them to create in a variety of formats, especially in a year where much of traditional filmmaking was shut down. We’re proud to support all of our passionate mediamakers and look forward to bringing their work to a wide audience on PBS’s broadcast and digital platforms.”
Awarded Projects:Bartolo Director/Producer: Leandro Fabrizi Rios Producer: Neyda Martínez Funding: Current Issues Fund Tucked into the rural coffee-growing mountainside of remote western Puerto Rico is a tiny hamlet, Bartolo. It is home to an isolated agricultural community of just 12 families, landless and chronically impoverished, and longing for a new start following Hurricane Maria. The community seizes on a chance for a new beginning when a veteran organizer from outside of Bartolo comes to town with a radical new plan. Niños de Las Brisas (Children of Las Brisas) Director/Producer: Marianela Maldonado Funding: Current Issues Fund In Venezuela's deadly Las Brisas district, three talented young musicians living amid poverty, crime and political turmoil, find hope for a better future in a local youth orchestra. Shot over eight years, the film follows the trio from childhood to young adulthood, as they pursue their dream of becoming professional musicians against seemingly overwhelming odds. Slumlord Millionaire Directors/Producers: Ellen Martinez, Steph Ching Funding: Current Issues Fund Today, seven Manhattan and Brooklyn zip codes are among the 20 most gentrified neighborhoods in the United States and New York City rents have gone up an average of 31% in the past eight years. Many landlords are eager to get rid of long-term tenants and use various tactics, including cutting off heat and gas, refusing to make repairs and ignoring vermin infestations. This documentary profiles a group of determined residents and dedicated nonprofit attorneys fighting corrupt landlords for the fundamental human right to a home, more critical than ever during a deadly pandemic. Lo Que Dejamos Atras (What We Leave Behind) Director/Producer: Iliana Sosa Funding: Public Media Content Fund For as long as she can remember, filmmaker Sosa’s grandfather Julián has traveled from his home in Durango, Mexico, to El Paso once a month to visit her and her mother. Now 89 and unable to make the journey, he begins building a new house in his rural Mexican hometown, where he lives with his blind son Jorge. The film follows Julián in the twilight of his life, as his granddaughter pieces together how their family has built and rebuilt home over decades of separation. Los Desobedientes Director/Producer: Rodrigo Dorfman Funding: Public Media Content Fund After 20 years of living in the U.S., an undocumented family decides to return home. Little do they know it will be the most difficult journey of their lives. Set between the rodeo rings of eastern North Carolina and the spellbinding Mexican hometown they long for, Los Desobedientes (The Disobedient Ones) is a story of reverse migration, rebellion and redemption. Silent Beauty Director/Producer: Jasmin Mara López Funding: Public Media Content Fund Silent Beauty is a moving autobiographical exploration of the filmmaker’s history with child sexual abuse, the culture of silence, and journey of healing as her public acknowledgment of the abuse helps her connect with her family over their shared trauma. Traces of Home Director/Producer: Colette Ghunim Funding: Public Media Content Fund In an attempt to discover her roots, filmmaker Colette Ghunim embarks on a journey with her parents to find their ancestral homes in Mexico and Palestine after being forced to leave decades ago. While navigating physical borders in both lands, her family’s internal barriers break down, exposing the traumas that forced them to leave and continue to challenge dynamics together. Exodus Stories: Voices from the Caravan Director/Producer: Ilse Fernandez Funding: Public Media Content Fund Escape, journey, hope. A dangerous 2,600-mile mass exodus to a promised land where a border separates a Central American nightmare from the American dream. Through intimate access, this powerful documentary follows three immigrants fleeing threats and violence as they journey on the Migrant Caravan through Mexico to an uncertain wait at the U.S. border to seek refuge. Amid anti-immigrant rhetoric, each must face their most decisive battle yet: staking their claim for asylum during the COVID-19 pandemic. Paquito D’Rivera: From Carne y Frijol to Carnegie Hall Director/Producer: Juan Mandelbaum Funding: Public Media Content Fund Research and Development for the story of jazz legend Paquito D’Rivera’s extraordinary journey from child prodigy in Havana, Cuba to 14-time Grammy winner international music artist and composer.  Digital Media El Paisa Director/Producer: Daniel Eduvijes Carrera/Co-producer: Jana Diaz-Juhl Funding: Public Media Content Fund This short narrative comedy follows Queer skater punk Fernando, who undergoes an empowering transformation after his encounter with a charming vaquero on the streets of East Los Angeles. Mi Casa Director/Producer: Esau Melendez Producer: Mario Contreras Funding: Public Media Content Fund Descendants of the first Mexican immigrants in Aurora, Illinois, who came in the early 20th century to build new lives as railroad workers in nearby Chicago, recall their family stories about the boxcar communities in which they lived and thrived. My Queerceañera Director/Producer: Marcos Nieves Funding: Public Media Content Fund Upon turning 50 years old, Karyna, a transgender immigrant from Mexico living in Arizona, is determined to fulfill her lifelong dream of celebrating her Quinceañera even if her family and society do not fully accept her. The Next Message Directors/Producers: Jennifer Maytorena Taylor, Mustafa Davis Funding: Public Media Content Fund Set during the ongoing pandemics of COVID-19 and police violence, The Next Message explores the complex and compelling unfolding story of the Latinx/African American Abdul-Shakur family, featured in the 2017 PBS special The Talk. Four years later, the family cares for their loved ones and their larger communities in a time of unprecedented crises and opportunities for change. When It's Good, It's Good Director/Producer: Alejandra Vasquez Funding: Public Media Content Fund Filmed over four years and two election cycles, the film offers an insider’s look at the filmmaker’s hometown of Denver City, Texas, a rural West Texas town struggling to survive through the boom-and-bust cycle of the oil industry.
by IC mag Editors
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