When an AI Productivity Monitoring Software deems widow Tita (Laura Patalano) no longer fit for work due to her swelling joints, she reluctantly hires an AI humanoid to fill in for her picking strawberries out in the fields. Yet, as model after model breaks down during the arduous labor, it becomes clear that no AI Humanoid the company provides is capable of executing the same back-breaking work. 

Patalano is endearing and just the right amount of tough in her role as Tita, who navigates both a humorous and heartfelt performance. She is surrounded by an equally engaging cast that convinces us that Caballero’s world in the not-too-distant future could very soon be a reality. 

Written by Luis Antonio Aldana & Miguel Angel Caballero, this film was produced by Helena Sardinha and Rafael Thomaseto, presented at the Tribeca Festival and was made as part of Indeed’s Rising Voices program – an initiative set up to discover, invest in and share stories created by BIPOC filmmakers and storytellers, and has qualified to be considered for a 2024 Academy® Award. Rising Voices was created in collaboration with Emmy® Award-winning writer, creator, and actor Lena Waithe, Hillman Grad Productions, Ventureland and 271 Films.

Miguel Angel Caballero (co-writer/director) is the son of Mexican immigrant farm workers and an award-winning Queer Mexican-American/Chicano writer, director, and producer. His short film, ACUITZERAMO, premiered at the Morelia International Film Festival, won 20 awards internationally, and is screening on MAX. Miguel Angel is an Outfest Screenwriting Lab Fellow, Film Independent Project Involve fellow, and the Warner Bros. Discovery 150 Artist Grant recipient. Miguel Angel was one of ten directors selected to participate in the 2022 inaugural Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Accelerator Program and won the Humanitas New Voices Fellowship. 

STARRING

Laura Patalano

Luis Antonio Aldana

Nico Greetham 

Cheryll Umaña

Rocío Lopez

Geoffrey Rivas

Rafael Cobos Delgado

Juan Alfonso

Elia Saldana

Joan Almedilla

Arlene Santana

Christain Jaime Garcia

Kiara Bletran

David Rodriguez Estrada

PRODUCTION: Indeed, Hillman Grad Productions, 271 Flms

DIRECTOR:  Miguel Angel Caballero

WRITERS: Luis Antonio Aldana, Miguel Angel Caballero

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Lena Waite, Rishi Rajani, Doménica Castro, Constanza Castro

PRODUCERS: Helena Sardinha, Rafael Thomaseto

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“The Pioneer Award acknowledges those individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to advancing the nonfiction form and providing exceptional vision and leadership to the documentary community,” says the IDA in a press statement, describing Firelight Media as “the premier destination for nonfiction cinema by and about communities of color.”

Firelight Media shared the award announcement on social media. “Beyond honor,” says a Facebook post and adds, “Thanks for the recognition and we will continue to do the good, important work on behalf of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) voices.

ACCLAIMED PRODUCTIONS
Since its foundation 20 years ago, the nonprofit has produced almost a film per year, with some winning Peabody and Sundance Film Festival awards. Its 2010 documentary The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution and Freedom Riders earned three Primetime Emmys. Most of its films center on the Black community and deal with social injustice, racism, history and inequality. 

A Firelight Media documentary, Shattering The Silences: The Case For Minority Faculty, takes a look at the success and distress of minority scholars in the humanities and social sciences at American universities, featuring professors who are African-American, Latino, Asian-American, and American Indian.

Firelight Media also offers a documentary lab, an 18-month fellowship for emerging filmmakers of color; and regional labs which support early-stage filmmakers in the American south, midwest, and U.S. Territories, according to its website.

Founded by two African American filmmakers, director Stanley Nelson (American Experience) and screenwriter Marcia Smith (Through the Fire: The Legacy of Barack Obama; Freedom Riders), Firelight Media’s executive team is approximately 25 percent Latino, including production manager Karla Rodriguez, artist programs coordinator Ximena Amescua and senior director of artist program Monika Navarro.

OTHER IDA HONORS
Firelight Media is one of six awardees of this year’s IDA Documentary Awards, which is celebrating its 36th annual edition. The other honorees are: 
— Primetime Emmy®-winning and Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI, Four Little Girls, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts) with the Career Achievement Award;
— Filmmaker Garrett Bradley (Time) with the Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award;
— Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning, Academy Award®-nominated Producer Regina K. Scully with the Amicus Award;
— Courage Under Fire Award goes to David France and the film team behind Welcome to Chechnya and activists David Isteev (The Russian LGBT Network) and Olga Baranova (Moscow Community Center for LGBT+ Initiatives) ; and
— Journalist Maria Ressa and the Filipino news network Rappler with the Truth to Power Award featured in A Thousand Cuts by Ramona S. Diaz.

The awards will be presented in a virtual ceremony in January of 2021.

The International Documentary Association is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit with a 40-year history of providing resources, creating community, and defending rights and freedoms for documentary artists, activists and journalists.

–CESAR ARREDONDO

Top featured photo: Firelight Media’s In The Making series screenshot, featuring Texas-born artist Vincent Valdez. Credit: PBS/Firelight Media.

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