Latino American documentaries

Chicago 1969: Activists from the Black Panthers, Young Lords, and Young Patriots united African Americans, Latinos, and poor whites to confront police brutality and unfair housing practices in one of America's most segregated cities. A timely story of collective action, The First Rainbow Coalition tells this little-known chronicle of political struggle with insight and urgency using archival footage and interviews with those who lived it.

In the early morning hours of January 28th, 1918, the town known as Porvenir, Texas, ceased to exist. A group of fifteen fathers, uncles, brothers and sons were taken from their homes and executed in front of their daughters, mothers and sisters. The perpetrators then burned the town to the ground forcing the remaining residents, made up of mostly women and children, to flee. Who were the killers? Why did they carry out such a horrific act? Through interviews with historians and descendants, site excavations and dramatizations, PORVENIR, TEXAS explores this tragic story, revisits what led to the events of that fateful night, and reveals tensions that remain a century later. Descendants of both victims and killers recount the stories passed down within their own families, while outsiders were completely unaware that this crucial piece of American history exists. Their anecdotal evidence points to the possible reasons why the village of Porvenir was targeted, exploring this tragedy on a personal level and understanding how it is relevant in today's climate.

Describes the history of Tejano music in South Texas.

This short film is based on the poem by the same title published by Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales in 1967.

'I was in prison before I was even born.' So begins the story of Dr. Victor Rios who, by 15, was a high school "dropout," heroin dealer, and Oakland gang member with multiple felony convictions and a death wish. But when a teacher's quiet persistence, a mentor's moral conviction, and his best friend's murder converge, Rios's path takes an unexpected turn.

Set in Ciudad Juarez, where U.S. multinational corporations assemble equipment across the border from El Paso, Texas, this work investigates the growing impact of the global economy on Mexican women who live and work in the area.

Land, labor, educational reform, and political empowerment are the four themes of this documentary regarding the Mexican American civil rights movement from 1965 to 1975.

When Moises Serrano was just a baby, his parents risked everything to flee Mexico and make the perilous journey across the desert in search of the American dream. After 23 years growing up in the rural south as an undocumented gay man, Serrano is forbidden to live and love in the country he calls home. He sees only one option-to fight for justice and demand equality.

In Latinos Beyond Reel, filmmakers Miguel Picker and Chyng Sun examine how US news and entertainment media portray -- and do not portray -- Latinos.

Los Punks: We Are All We Have is an intimate documentary about the teens and young adults who find meaning in the thriving punk rock scene in the backyards of South Central and East Los Angeles.

Ruben Salazar: Man in the Middle, an investigative look at the life and mysterious death of pioneering journalist Ruben Salazar.

Disenfranchised high school seniors become academic warriors and community leaders in Tucson, Arizona's embattled Ethnic Studies classes while state lawmakers attempt to eliminate the program.

Political empowerment for Latinos in the United States has always faced adverse circumstances. From poll taxes and gerrymandering to outright intimidation, Latinos have been kept from the ballot box in both local and national elections throughout history. A Mexican-American butcher's son from San Antonio, Texas, Willie Velasquez questioned the lack of Latino representation in his city's government, propelling him into a lifelong battle to gain political equality for Latinos. Velasquez grew up to become a student activist leader of the Latino Civil Rights Movement and eventually the leader of one of the most important efforts in the history of Latino empowerment in America. He started a grassroots movement that changed the nation's political landscape and paved the way for the growing power of the Latino vote. Willie Velasquez: Your Vote is Your Voice examines the obstacles Latinos had to overcome to obtain representation, and addresses the contemporary issues facing Latinos today.

Filmmaker Brian Knappenberger investigates the tragic death of an 8-year-old California boy who endured horrific abuse by his mother and her boyfriend, along with the fractured and complex systems that failed to protect him.

"A Photographer's Journey" captures the remarkable life and work of Pedro Guerrero (1917-2012). He left behind thousands of photographs and nearly 15 hours of interviews beautifully shot in 2011. This film tells, in his own words, the remarkable story of a Mexican American boy born and raised in segregated Mesa, Arizona in the early years of the 20th century who goes on to a remarkable international career. Through his lens and voice we will explore Pedro's unique perspective on life, art, architecture and the artists he encountered. Guerrero used his outsider's eye to produce insightful and iconic portraits of Frank Lloyd Wright, Alexander Calder and Louise Nevelson as well as important images of modernist architecture. He was the first Hispanic to enroll in Wright's Taliesin Fellowship in 1939. Yet his story is largely unknown.

An old mining town on the Arizona-Mexico border finally reckons with its darkest day: the deportation of 1200 immigrant miners exactly 100 years ago. Locals collaborate to stage recreations of their controversial past.

In October 2006, the United States government decided to build a 700 mile fence along its Mexican border. Three years and 3.1 billion dollars later, award-winning director Rory Kennedy investigates the impact of the project, revealing how its stated goals--containing illegal immigration, cracking down on drug trafficking, and protecting America from terrorists--have given way to unforeseen consequences.

THROUGH THE REPELLENT FENCE: A Land Art Film follows art collective Postcommodity as they construct Repellent Fence, a two-mile long outdoor artwork that straddled the U.S.-Mexico border. Postcommodity consists of three Native American artists who put land art in a tribal context. In 2015 the artists worked with communities on both sides to install a series of 28 huge inflatable spheres emblazoned with an insignia known as the "open eye" that has existed in Indigenous cultures from South America to Canada for thousands of years. The artwork crossed the border a mile in each direction and symbolized a suture stitching back together cultures that have inhabited the land long before borders were drawn. Scenes with other artists and intellectuals working in the land art realm provide context and insight as well. These include scenes with Chris Taylor of Texas Tech University's LandArts of the American West program, writer Lucy Lippard and Matt Coolidge of the Center for Land Use Interpretation.

The story of undocumented youth and the challenges they face as they turn 18 without legal status.

A documentary film focusing on a trans gender, youth beauty pageant, taking place in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood. Characters offer a glimpse of their lifestyle as they prepare to compete against each other.

Chronicles the rich and varied history and experiences of Latinos, who have helped shape the United States over the last 500-plus years and have become, with more than 50 million people, the largest minority group in the U.S.

Explores the lives of three Latinx transgender prostitutes and crack addicts living in abandoned garbage trucks at a road salt storage facility near lower Manhattan.

Santiago Gonzalez IV, a first generation Mexican-American, struggles with the tensions between his sexuality, nationality, and religion as he prepares for his college graduation.

After 17 years working as a sex worker in New York City, undocumented immigrant Iván Monalisa reunites with a former college classmate and re-flourishes in the search for identity as a transgender performer and writer.

A rag-tag group of undocumented youth - Dreamers - deliberately get detained by Border Patrol in order to infiltrate a shadowy, for-profit detention center.