Paul Espinosa

"Singing Our Way to Freedom" is a vibrant, multilayered look at the life of Chicano musician, composer and community activist, Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez. The film chronicles Chunky’s life from his humble beginnings as a farmworker in Blythe, California to receiving one of the nation’s highest musical honors at the Library of Congress in Washington DC in 2013.

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The story of indigenous women from Oaxaca, Mexico who migrate to the Mexico-United States border in search of work and a better life for themselves and their children. Mexicans from the state of Oaxaca have been immigrating to the U.S. for generations, sending 10,000 migrants a year to the United States since 1946. Women – both those left behind in Oaxaca and those who travel to the U.S. – have a story to tell that has been heard by few.

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Richard Montoya, Herbert Siguenza and Ric Salinas are theater artists who form the Latino comedy troupe called Culture Clash.  Their style resembles the best vaudevillians of this country and Latin America. This story explores the development of their theater piece Bordertown, commissioned by the San Diego Repertory Theatre. Utilizing behind the scenes footage and interviews with Montoya, Siguenza, and Salinas, we examine how they shape Bordertown and offer their own interpretation of the region. They interviewed more than 100 people in San Diego and Tijuana and developed multiple characters whose lives are represented on the stage.  Some of these characters are unusual choices, like Shamu, Sea World’s killer whale and a married couple representing the U.S. and Mexico.

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A documentary profile of growing tensions between migrant worker camps and affluent homeowners in north San Diego County, one of the richest and fastest-growing areas in the United States. Here, sharing the same valleys, are homeowners concerned about property values and sanitation, and migrant workers, living in conditions which most Americans expect only in the Third World. This program chronicles the life and death of the Green Valley camp, home to thousands of workers over the last ten years, many of them legalized under the 1986 immigration bill.

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Follows directors journey to discover the life and times of Antonio José Martínez, an activist priest dedicated to the enlightenment ideals of representative democracy and public education in 19th century New Mexico.

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For most of the 20th century, to think of immigration was to think of Ellis Island and the bittersweet stories of generations of immigrants whose lives were touched as they passed through that landmark location. Usually overlooked in the national story of immigration has been our southwestern border. Millions of immigrants passed through this border on their way to becoming Americans. Many made the harrowing journey over well-worn paths, following the steps of hundreds of thousands of travelers before them.

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"Singing Our Way to Freedom" is a vibrant, multilayered look at the life of Chicano musician, composer and community activist, Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez. The film chronicles Chunky’s life from his humble beginnings as a farmworker in Blythe, California to receiving one of the nation’s highest musical honors at the Library of Congress in Washington DC in 2013.

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Twelve-year-old Mexican-American Marcos (Jose Alcala) recalls the hardships of the previous year, reflecting on the arduous trek his migrant-worker family made from Texas to the Midwest during harvest season. Along the way, Marcos learns plenty about the harsh realities of bigotry and the power of family in America of the 1950s. The coming-of-age Chicano drama is based on Tomas Rivera's semiautobiographical 1971 novella.

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On Jan. 5, 1931, Mexican-American students were barred from attending their local elementary school. The parents took the school district to court.

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Using rare historical footage, vintage musical recordings, and interviews with 88-year-old Pedro J. Gonzalez and his wife, this film chronicles Gonzalez’s long and colorful life, from his early days with Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution, to his career as a popular radio personality in Los Angeles in the 1930s, to the controversial court case that sent him to San Prison, a victim of the repressive forces operating against the Chicano/Mexicano community during that period.

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The story of indigenous women from Oaxaca, Mexico who migrate to the Mexico-United States border in search of work and a better life for themselves and their children. Mexicans from the state of Oaxaca have been immigrating to the U.S. for generations, sending 10,000 migrants a year to the United States since 1946. Women – both those left behind in Oaxaca and those who travel to the U.S. – have a story to tell that has been heard by few.

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