— Strong Slate of New Programs and an Encore of LATIN MUSIC USA to Air in September and October on PBS —
From Cy Young Award winners to Grammy Award winners, PBS celebrates Hispanic Heritage 2010 with a strong slate of new and encore programming.
AMERICAN MASTERS keeps the beat with Grammy Award-winning bassist Israel “Cachao” Lopez who reignited his career while living in Florida with the help of friend Andy Garcia, who directed and narrates the film. AMERICAN MASTERS “Cachao: Uno Mas” premieres Monday, September 20, 2010, 9:00 p.m. ET on PBS.
On a journey through Latin America and Spain, host Rubén Martínez illuminates the origins of today’s Latino culture by exploring the largely untold story of what happened in the Americas after Columbus in WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, Monday, September 27, 2010, 9:00 p.m. ET on PBS.
Ken Burns updates his landmark 1994 BASEBALL series with THE TENTH INNING. Beginning with a crippling strike that alienated millions of fans and brought the game to the brink, this new film tells the tumultuous story of our national pastime up to the present and includes the dramatic stories of players like Sammy Sosa and Pedro Martinez who brought their passion for the game from the streets of the Dominican Republic to America’s grandest stages. THE TENTH INNING premieres Tuesday, September 28, 2010, 8:00 p.m. ET on PBS.
Beyond Hispanic Heritage Month, PBS serves as a showcase for Latino themed programming throughout the year. INDEPENDENT LENS presents “The Longoria Affair,” scheduled for Tuesday, November 9, 2010 at 10 p.m. ET on PBS. The film tells the story of WWII vet Private Felix Longoria who died in battle and was refused a proper funeral by the only funeral parlor in his small Texas town.
New programming is bolstered by encore programming including LATIN MUSIC USA, AMERICAN MASTERS, INDEPENDENT LENS, POV and GLOBAL VOICES. In addition, PBS’ celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month extends beyond the broadcast and onto pbs.org. PBS’ video player (pbs.org/video) — where viewers can watch hours of free PBS programming online and on their own time — features an extensive lineup of programs honoring and exploring Latino culture in “Nuestras Historias | Our Stories,” a special Hispanic Heritage Month collection that features LATIN MUSIC USA (in English and in Spanish), IN PERFORMANCE AT THE WHITE HOUSE “Fiesta Latina,” the short-film series “Latinos in 60 Seconds” and AMERICAN EXPERIENCE “Roberto Clemente,”among others. The collection is available online at (www.pbs.org/nuestrashistorias).
New Programming
AMERICAN MASTERS “Cachao: Uno Mas”
Monday, September 20, 2010, 9:00-10:30 p.m. ET
Hispanic Heritage Month Programming (check local listings)
Narrated and produced by actor Andy Garcia, AMERICAN MASTERS “Cachao: Uno Mas” is an in depth celebration of the legendary Father of the Mambo, Israel “Cachao” Lopez, who died March 2008 in Coral Gables, Florida. Cachao’s remarkable life from his childhood in Cuba, to his early career in America, to his resurgence in the 1990s, is told through performances and interviews with the maestro himself, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Arturo Sandoval and many others.
WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE Monday, September 27, 2010, 9:00-10:30 p.m. ET
Hispanic Heritage Month Programming (check local listings)
WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, with host Rubén Martínez, illuminates the origins of today’s Latino culture in the United States through the untold story of what happened in the Americas after Columbus. The journey begins in 2010 Los Angeles and travels to Latin America and Spain for a vivid exploration of the first century after the “Old World” encountered the “New World.”
THE TENTH INNING Tuesday and Wednesday, September 28 and 29, 2010, 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET
Hispanic Heritage Month Programming (check local listings)
Thousands of bats, three home run records and one “curse” have been broken since Ken Burns last explored the history of America’s national pastime with his landmark 1994 PBS series BASEBALL. Now, Burns and co-director Lynn Novick update the series with THE TENTH INNING. Beginning with a crippling strike that alienated millions of fans and brought the game to the brink, this new film tells the tumultuous story of our national pastime up to the present. It celebrates baseball’s new Golden Age — an era of unprecedented home run totals, popularity and prosperity — and sheds light on one of the game’s darkest chapters — the steroid era. The two-part, four-hour film examines the compelling stories of Joe Torre, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martinez, Ichiro Suzuki, Cal Ripken Jr. and Barry Bonds and features insightful commentary from an eclectic lineup of writers, broadcasters, fans and all-stars.
INDEPENDENT LENS “The Longoria Affair”
Tuesday, November 9, 2010, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET
Private Felix Longoria died fighting the Japanese during World War II. But when his body was sent home to Three Rivers, Texas, the town’s only funeral parlor refused to allow his family to use their chapel because “the whites wouldn’t like it.” The incident sparked national outrage and brought together two savvy political leaders, Senator Lyndon Johnson and Dr. Hector Garcia. Their complex, sometimes contentious relationship would help Latinos become a national political force for the first time in American history. The Longoria Affair would also propel John Kennedy to the White House, and lead President Johnson to sign the most important civil rights legislation of the twentieth century.
Encore Programming
LATIN MUSIC USA
Wednesdays, September 8-15, 2010, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET
Hispanic Heritage Month Programming (check local listings)
The rise of American music forged from powerful Latin roots and the influence of Latin music on jazz, hip hop, rhythm and blues and rock ‘n’ roll — and on American culture. Jimmy Smits narrates.
AMERICAN MASTERS “Orozco: Man of Fire”
Hispanic Heritage Month Programming (check local listings)
Muralist Orozco’s bold, dynamic frescoes had a profound impact on American painters and inspired FDR to put artists to work during the Great Depression.
AMERICAN MASTERS “Rivera in America”
Hispanic Heritage Month Programming (check local listings)
Considered the greatest Mexican painter of the 20th century, Diego Rivera continues to have a profound effect on the international art world.
INDEPENDENT LENS “Compañeras”
Hispanic Heritage Month Programming (check local listings)
The intense, passionate world of female mariachi.
INDEPENDENT LENS “Our Disappeared/Nuestros Desaparecidos”
Hispanic Heritage Month Programming (check local listings)
Director Juan Mandelbaum returns to his native Argentina to discover what happened to friends and loved ones who “disappeared” during the 1976-1983 military dictatorships there. Terrence Howard hosts the series.
LOS LONELY BOYS COTTONFIELDS AND CROSSROADS
Hispanic Heritage Month Programming (check local listings)
Documentary tells the story of three Mexican-American brothers from Texas who create a signature music style they call “Texican.”
POV “The Ballad of Esequiel Hernandez”
Hispanic Heritage Month Programming (check local listings)
Tommy Lee Jones narrates the tale of a young man, mistaken for a drug runner and killed by U.S. Marines patrolling the Texas-Mexico border.
POV “Calavera Highway”
Hispanic Heritage Month Programming (check local listings)
Two Mexican-American men reunite with five brothers and try to piece together their family’s shattered history. Why was their mother cast out by her family? What happened to their father?
GLOBAL VOICES “Maid in America”
Hispanic Heritage Month Programming (check local listings)
Housekeeper. Nanny. Maid. Surrogate mother. Such are the many roles of las domesticas — undocumented workers who came to America in search of a better life and found themselves scrubbing toilets and setting tables, working long hours for little pay in private homes.
GLOBAL VOICES “Maquilapolis”
Hispanic Heritage Month Programming (check local listings)
Women workers in Tijuana’s assembly factories tell their stories, revealing the transformation of a city and its people by globalization. Factory worker Carmen Durán and her colleagues describe environmental devastation, infrastructural chaos and violations of human and labor rights as they work to transform their world and carve out lives of agency in a new and complicated century.
GLOBAL VOICES “Made in L.A./The First Kid to Learn English from Mexico”
Hispanic Heritage Month Programming (check local listings)
“Made in L.A.” is an Emmy Award-winning feature documentary that follows three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles garment sweatshops as they embark on a three-year odyssey to win basic labor protections from trendy clothing retailer Forever 21. In intimate observational style, “Made in L.A.” reveals the impact of the struggle on each woman’s life as they are gradually transformed by the experience. “Made in L.A.” is a story about immigration, the power of unity, and the courage it takes to find your voice. Shown with The First Kid to Learn English from Mexico.
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CONTACTS:
Cara White, CaraMar Publicity, 843-881-1480; cara.white@mac.com
Gabriel Reyes, Reyes Entertainment, 512-686-1488; Gabriel@reyesentertainment.com
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