The series, which will air on national public television, will feature a diverse array of documentaries and musical specials that celebrate the rich variety of the Latino-American experience. Each week’s program will be introduced by acclaimed actor Edward James Olmos. “Our Latino culture is deeply woven into the fabric of American life – one doesn’t exist without the other,” says Olmos. “Latino stories – Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, etc. – are American stories, and VOCES is so exciting because finally those stories will have a weekly home on public television. And it’s also a series that delivers as great entertainment.”
Luca Bentivoglio, the executive director of Latino Public Broadcasting, is the curator of the series. “We see VOCES as the first national public television series to truly show the broad spectrum of Latino influence in America – one that goes far beyond the one-note coverage of Latinos seen in the media,” he comments. VOCES is particularly exciting because it features two programs that are directed and produced by Latinas!
Here is a brief description of all thirteen upcoming episodes. For stations and schedules in your area, visit www.voces.tv

The Bronze Screen: 100 Years of the Latino Image in Hollywood Cinema (Parts 1 and 2)
Saturday, September 2 and Saturday, September 9
* Latina-produced and directed!*
In two one-hour specials, The Bronze Screen tells the remarkable and largely untold history of Latinos in Hollywood. Exploring stereotypes and celebrating triumphs, this documentary showcases the many Latino artists – including Ricardo Montalban, Cesar Romero, Rita Moreno, Raquel Welch, John Leguizamo, and more – who transcended cliché and brought the face of Latino Americans to the silver screen.

The Republic of Baseball: The Dominican Giants of the American Game
Saturday, September 16
The Dominican Republic sends more “peloteros” to Major League Baseball than any other Latin nation. In celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of their arrival, this is the story of the first generation of players from the Dominican Republic – Felipe Alou, Juan Marichal, and Manny Mota – who overcame poverty, dictatorship, and racism to triumph in the big leagues.

Nuestra Familia/Our Family
Saturday, September 23
*Latina-produced!*
This ground-breaking documentary goes inside one of California’s most powerful and violent gangs – the Nuestra Familia prison gang – whose ties to the Norteño gang (which operates outside the prison walls) makes it one of the most well-organized crime machines in the state. Through the personal stories of its members, the film brings home the sorrow of an entire community and provides hope, profiling the brave families who are determined to bring an end to the terror of gangs before the next generation repeats the mistakes of their fathers.
 

The Bronze Screen: Anthony Quinn Photo Courtesy of MGM	Nuestra Familia: Salinas Valley Photo: Janjaap Dekker	Yank Tanks: Pink Cadillac in Havana Photo: David Schendel

Yank Tanks
Saturday, September 30
Yank Tanks explores the phenomenon of classic cars in Cuba. Like an exotic, endangered species, these colorful cars roam around this island paradise trapped in a 1950s time warp. Beacons of individuality in a sea of government conformity, they represent freedom for those who own them. The film provides a fascinating look at this underground world, featuring a gallery of eccentric characters and their miraculously-preserved automobiles.

Split Decision
Saturday, October 7
This award-winning documentary tells the story of the talented boxer Jesus “El Matador” Chavez, who finds his rise to the world championship cut short when he is deported to Mexico because of a youthful crime in his past. Back in the country he left as a child, Jesus faces two new battles – the fight for the right to return to his family and career in the U.S., and the struggle to find acceptance in the country of his birth.

The Republic of Baseball: Pan Am Team, Mexico City, 1956 Photo: Cuqui Cordova	Split Decision: Jesus “El Matador” Chavez training in the ring Photo: Terri Glanger

Santo Domingo Blues: Los Tigueres de la Bachata
Saturday, October 14
This colorful documentary tells the story of the guitar-playing singer/songwriter Luis Vargas and bachata, the guitar blues of Santo Domingo. First played in the bars and brothels of the Dominican Republic, bachata is now eclipsing rap as the music of choice for Latino youth on the streets of New York, and has become an emblem of national pride for Dominican immigrants.

Lalo Guerrero: The Original Chicano
Saturday, October 21
A fascinating look at the life and music of the legendary Mexican-American icon known as “the father of Chicano music.” As a composer, musician, political satirist, and performer, the late Guerrero had no equal. His career spanned every major social and political era of the past six decades, and his music and lyrics captured it all from the Chicano point of view. Through Lalo’s life, we see the collective history of Mexican-Americans, Chicanos, and Americans.

Recalling Orange County
Saturday, October 28
*Latina directed!*
Documentary filmmaker Mylène Moreno recalls her experiences growing up as the daughter of immigrants in California’s Orange County, and returns to see what has changed since she left. Moreno follows the fierce battle against a controversial immigrant-rights activist and discovers as much division within the Latino community – between recent and assimilated immigrants – as between the traditional establishment and the county’s increasingly vocal newcomers.

 

Santo Domingo Blues: Luis Vargas Photo: Melissa Cooperman	The Guestworker: Don Cande Photo: Dr. Charles Thompson	From Mambo to Hip Hop: Benny Bonilla Photo: Martin Cohen, courtesy of Latin Percussion

From Mambo to Hip Hop: A South Bronx Tale
Saturday, November 4
A panoramic view of the music that blossomed in the Latin community of the South Bronx, from the late 1940s – when mambo first burst onto the scene – through the birth of hip hop in the 1970s. The film chronicles two generations that grew up on the same streets, both using rhythm as their form of rebellion. The film is also about empowerment, showing how the people of South Bronx, with little money but lots of passion, saved themselves and their community and contributed to the world’s popular culture.

The Guestworker
Saturday, November 11
The Guestworker is a portrait of 66-year-old Don Candelario Gonzalez Moreno, a Mexican rancher who has been coming to North Carolina since the 1960s as part of the U.S. government’s H-2A Guestworker program. Although decades older than the other men he works with, ‘Don Cande’ continues to toil for long hours in the tobacco, cucumber, and pepper fields, sweating and worrying about his family back home. Shot over two years in North Carolina and Mexico, The Guestworker shows how the complex rhetoric of the immigration debate plays out in the life of one laborer.

[This article has been edited for www.latinastyle.com. For the full version, check out the July/August issue of LATINA Style.] 

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