Films about New York’s Latin jazz, a new generation of crime writers in the U.S.-Mexico border, an Afro-Latina running for the Colombian presidency and colorism in Mexico are among the latest round of projects funded by Latino Public Broadcasting.
The projects explore a variety of stories, with a focus on the diversity of Latino arts and recent reports on the changing political scene in the U.S. and throughout Latin America, according to LPB. They consist of broadcast and digital media projects that will receive monies from three different funds of the nonprofit, which in turn is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Of the 16 selections, three are supported by the Current Issues Fund and the rest by the Public Media Content and Digital Media funds.
Arts programs include The Music Never Ends, a crash course on the history of the Latin jazz scene in the Big Apple featuring the Mambo Legends Orchestra; Border Noir, about the new wave of crime writers chronicling life in the U.S./Mexico border; and Paquito D’Rivera: From Carne y Frijol to Carnegie Hall, a biography of the
Cuban-born jazz legend.
Other projects are Igualada, about a young Afro-Latina community activist running for the presidency in Colombia; Undocumented Justice, a portrait of the first undocumented attorney to argue a case before the Supreme Court; and Mexico’s Reckoning: A History of Colorism, about the country’s burgeoning movement for racial justice.
“We are very proud to support the extraordinary work of these filmmakers who truly represent the amazing diversity within our Latino creative community,” says Sandie Viquez Pedlow, LPB executive director. “These productions also represent a vital step in addressing the dismal lack of Latino voices in today’s media; our passion and our mission (are) to correct that imbalance. These new projects remind us that there is an endless number of stories about our community that need to be told and we can’t wait to share them with viewers nationally.”
The following is the complete list of projects:
BROADCAST
Untitled Prison Hunger Strike Film
Producer and co-director: JoeBill Muñoz
Funding: Current Issues Fund
Three men look to build new lives after surviving decades of solitary confinement in California prisons. But as time passes, memories of their past still grip them. This film tells how these men and 30,000 others overcome impossible odds and orchestrate a hunger strike to abolish indefinite solitary confinement.
Igualada
Producer: Juan Yepes; director: Juan Mejia
Funding: Current Issues Fund
As Colombia’s streets burn with unrest, one determined woman dares to challenge an entrenched political establishment on the country’s biggest stage. Against all odds, Francia Márquez, an Afro-Latina rural community activist, has launched a presidential campaign where her uncompromising appeal for justice inspires a country by allowing it to dream.
Untitled
Producer/director: Bernardo Ruiz; producer: Gabriela Alcalde
Funding: Current Issues Fund
Part procedural, part true-crime thriller, this documentary tells the story of a history-making collaboration between a forensic scientist from Texas and a group of Latin American students, whose work to identifying the bodies of missing migrants will ultimately change the course of forensic science and international human rights.
Border Noir
Producer: Isaac Artenstein; director: Alejandro Meter
Funding: Public Media Content Fund
A cinematic journey along the U.S.-Mexico border featuring crime writers from both sides, working in a popular genre that reflects multiple and nuanced perspectives about immigration, sexuality, national identity, and globalization, while embracing a search for authenticity and justice.
Mexico’s Reckoning: A History of Colorism
Director/producer: Phillip Rodriguez
Funding: Public Media Content Fund
Helmed by the filmmaker of the docs The Rise and Fall of the Brown Buffalo and Ruben Salazar: Man in the Middle, the film will follow the movement for racial justice in Mexico, capturing the clashes between the overwhelmingly white elites who deny the severity–or even existence–of Mexican racism, and the activists on the ground who are leading the movement to unmask and dismantle it.
The Music Never Ends
Executive producer and director: Mari Keiko Gonzalez; executive producer: Lorraine Galvis
Funding: Public Media Content Fund
This new musical documentary follows The Mambo Legends Orchestra, some of whose members are also former members of the legendary Tito Puente Orchestra. Equal parts love letter and history lesson, the film traces the cultural significance of Afro-Cuban jazz–a fusion of the big band sound of the jazz era with Cuban music created in New York City in the 1940s.
Paquito D’Rivera: From Carne y Frijol to Carnegie Hall
Producer and director: Juan Mandelbaum
Funding: Public Media Content Fund
A look at the life of jazz legend Paquito D’Rivera and his extraordinary journey from child prodigy in Havana, Cuba, to 14-time Grammy-winning international music artist and composer.
The Game Plan
Producer and director: Mylène Moreno
Funding: Public Media Content Fund
The feature-length doc follows young female student-athletes who are leveraging their soccer skills to launch their lives. Pre-Covid-19, the female futbolistas of Orange County’s Fullerton College were already swimming against the tide; since the pandemic, their obstacles have been fully exposed.
TheyDream
Producer and director: William Caballero
Funding: Public Media Content Fund
The animated documentary is a time capsule about the filmmaker’s Puerto Rican-American family. It uses motion-capture technology to creatively visualize the family’s various realities, setbacks, hopes and dreams.
Undocumented Justice
Director and producer: Marlene (Mo) Morris; co-producer: Lidieth Arevalo
Funding: Public Media Content Fund
When ICE threatens 700,000 fellow DREAMers, Luis Cortes Romero fights back–and becomes the first undocumented attorney to argue a case before the Supreme Court.
American Sons
Director and cinematographer: Andrew Gonzales; producer: Laura Varela
Funding: Public Media Content Fund
A decade after the well-documented death of Corporal Jorge Villarreal during the War in Afghanistan, his closest Marine brothers are fighting their toughest battle yet–surviving in the civilian world.
DIGITAL MEDIA
Bertie the Brilliant
Producer and director: Gabriela Garcia Medina
Funding: Digital Media Fund
A young boy takes on chores and small jobs around his neighborhood to raise money for a ticket to a magic show. But when his grandmother loses her job, he is faced with a difficult decision.
Hair
Producer: Brian Khan; co-creators: Lorena Diaz and Wendy Mateo
Funding: Digital Media Fund
When everything beautiful fades, the only thing left is the joy you shared in the community. This is a story about a village contained in a Latina beauty salon, where hair–and spirits–are lifted.
The Kill Floor
Producer, director and writer: Carlos Avila
Funding: Digital Media Fund
When the Covid-19 pandemic engulfs a meatpacking plant in his rural hometown, a young Latino reporter returns to uncover the urgent and deadly circumstances threatening the plant’s workers – including his father.
First It Was My Dream
Creator and cinematographer: Dylan Golden
Funding: Digital Media Fund
After the unexpected closing of New York City’s Mendez boxing gym, Andy Dominguez, an undocumented fighter from Mexico, tries to prove he’s worthy of a World Title shot despite his status.
Punk Is Punk
Producer, director and writer: Kimberly Bautista
Funding: Digital Media Fund
A punk rocker gender-queer parent is hesitant when their child wants a quinceañera, a gender-normative gathering that sets the stage for them to face their estranged, old-school father.