New England Tour- Mt. Holyoke and Smith
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| With Desiree Garcia and Bernadine Mellis |
From there, we headed to Northampton, to present the film at Smith college. We were kindly invited by Elisabeth Armstrong at the Program for the Study of Women & Gender (thank you Lisa!) and the screening was supported by other departments and local groups, including Liana Foxvog from Sweatfree Communities, and student organizer extraordinaire Alisa Kowal. Local organizers attended, and an organizer from the Western MA Coalition for Immigrant and Worker Rights (check it out their blog!) stood up to talk about their work in the community around undocumented immigrants, and the May 1st events. We encouraged her to write that information on the huge chalk board in the auditorium... and very soon there was a line of organizers patiently waiting for the one chalk to post the information about their organizations and events!  |
| With Alisa Kowal and Liana Foxvog |
We went to dinner afterwards with some of the organizers, and it was a beautiful finish to the tour, full of new people, new places, and new experiences... Wherever we go, we want to think that the film leaves a mark -and its circle of impact expands day by day...
This event was sponsored by: SSJIC, Nosotras, Sweatfree Communities (one of our outreach partners - to find out how to become a partner, click here), the Program for the Study of Women & Gender, and the Film Studies program (Mt. Holyoke).
New England Tour - Yale University
The moment I entered the screening room, I received a huge hug from Unidad Latina organizer Fátima Rojas, who had seen Made in L.A. on PBS in September. That was moving, and it was a beautiful reminder of how many people may have seen or been impacted by the film without our even knowing...
The panel discussion following the screening was moderated by Professor Jennifer Klein and included Fatima and Juan Granados, from Unidad Latina en Acción, and Elizabeth Breton from the UNITE-HERE Joint Laundry Board.It was moving to be able to hear a deep discussion of the human and local issues that stem from the film, and I wrote down a few sentences that touched me, to share here:
"Many times we feel very small but when we are organized we lose our fear" - Juan
"I was waiting for the American dream to come knock on my door and say ‘come join me', but it never happened" - Elisabeth.
"Everyone living in a community, all of us, at the end of the day, we are all workers" -Fatima.
Fear. Unity. Hope. These are the three words I wrote on my pad to remember from that night.
This panel was a great example of how the film can help bring together, students, academics, community members, activists and workers! As a result of the event, Unidad Latina has shown the film in New Haven today, May 1st, during the day of action "La Unidad hace la Fuerza. In Unity there is Strength". For more info click here or write ULAccion@yahoo.com.
We also just heard from Professor Klein about a successful union organizing drive at a laundry plant near New Haven (click here for more info). Exciting news!
Here's a group photo of everyone involved, with Made in L.A. flyers: Left to right, bottom to top: Alfonso Santiago with little Ambar, a student, Juan Granados, Fátima Rojas, Elizabeth Bretón, Michael Denning, me, Jennifer Klein, Steve Pitti and Robert.
New England Tour- Brown University
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| With Monica Pelayo and Prof. Matt Garcia |
A huge thank you also goes to student leader Monica Pelayo, who coordinated the entire event, and to the event sponsors Semana Chicana and The Center for Study of Race and Ethnicity!
Made in L.A. wins SIGNIS award in Mexico City!
SIGNIS, the World Catholic Association for Communication, is a non-governmental organization that includes members from 140 countries: professionals in radio, television, cinema, video, media education, Internet, and new technology. Each year, SIGNIS organizes Ecumenical or Interfaith Juries at more than 30 prominent Film Festivals around the world, including Cannes, Berlin, Locarno and Venice.
Made in L.A. in Paris!
Two weeks ago we screened Made in L.A. at the Paris International Human Rights Film Festival, and Robert and I were both lucky enough to be able to attend. I had lived in Paris for a year when I was a senior at University, and it was a nice reencounter with the city - which is not the city of light, but rather the city of rain! Besides the vagaries of the city itself, it was just an incredible experience to screen the film in Paris and to see so many moved to tears.Europe is indeed experiencing many of the issues reflected in Made in L.A., and I was shocked to learn recently about the scandal in Italy where they found Chinese immigrants working for no money in underground, illegal shops in Tuscany that produced cheap bags and shoes bearing fraudulent Prada, Fendi and Nike insignia (read the LA Times story here). But as we were reminded by the audience, garment shops and other businesses that rely on low wage immigrant labor are everywhere, and I wonder how long it'll be before there is another big "sweatshop" scandal, this time in Paris, Madrid or Berlin.
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People coming into the theater in the neighborhood of Saint Michel in Paris |
On the brighter side, we were amazed to see, once again, that the film is able to resonate in other countries and that our little story about Lupe, Maria and Maura is able to convey a universal truth about the dignity of the human spirit, which knows no borders and certainly no boundaries.
To listen to a great radio interview in Radio France International (in French), click here.
Governor Bill Richardson comments on Made in L.A.
"Immigration - under any guise - is one of the defining issues of our age. With "Made in L.A.," Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar show in vivid detail that, at a fundamental level, this is not simply an issue of competitive intermingling of people, but that it is also an issue of the assault on universal human dignity in the face of enormous global economic pressures. Ultimately though, they show that despite the political or economic vices twisting down upon the planet, the elementary human spirit remains the most powerful force at work."
To read more reactions to Made in L.A., visit POV's website.
Join us on Facebook!
Become our fans and please share the page with your friends! Check us out at our Made in L.A. Facebook page!
Upcoming US screenings
We're also planning a mini-tour in New England! More info coming soon!
To see details on these and other events, check our screenings page!
Made in L.A. continues its international festival tour!
It will premiere in France at the prestigious Paris International Human Rights Film Festival, and Robert and I will be in attendance!
Made in L.A. will have its Israeli premiere at the prestigious Docaviv Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival!
The German premiere will be at the touring CineLatino Filmfestival, which travels to the cities of Tübingen, Stuttgart, Fráncfort, Heidelberg y Friburgo in Germany!
Our Italian premiere will be at the Rome Independent Film Festival!
Made in L.A. will play for the second time in Korea at the wonderful International Women's Film Festival in Seoul and for the second time in Mexico City at the Voces Contra el Silencio Film Festival!
Finally, to close the month, the Gdansk DocFilm Festival "Dignity and Work" will premiere Made in L.A. in Poland!
Almudena wins Estela Award!
At the recent NALIP (National Association of Latino Independent Producers) conference Almudena was awarded the Estela Award in Documentary, which "honors talented Latino/a filmmakers who, either through a stunning debut or a steady rise in a relatively short period of time, have distinguished themselves through their work to date. This award is for filmmakers whose achievements reveal leadership, creativity, and tenacity, as well as vision and passion for their craft."
It was a very beautiful ceremony, and it was an honor to receive the award from the hands of Mexican director Luis Mandoki, whom I admire so much. (His film Innocent Voices broke my heart...) This award means a lot, especially because NALIP has played such a wonderful role during the development of the project. I still remember the first NALIP conference I attended, back in 2004, where I started to understand what it takes to make this kind of doc. After that, the project was nurtured at the Latino Producers Academy (and it was so beautiful to go again 4 years later, last July, to show the finished film to the new fellows!). NALIP is an amazing community and I am humbled and grateful for all of their support!
Believe it or not, NALIP put together a tribute reel for the awards ceremony! Hats off to the creators Sixto Melendez, Javier Gomez and Marcos Najera (narrator):
Closing thoughts on our Northern California tour
After 5 days, 7 screenings and 1200+ miles on the road, we have learned a lot and we have been inspired by how many people and groups have come together for each event. It is a testament to how many layers the film has, and it reaffirms our belief that there's still so very much to do with Made in L.A. After five and a half years in the making, this is the most beautiful part, where we bring the film into the communities that need it, to help educate and empower people. This is, simply, the reason why we made the film - our mission.
To read more about how we organized this tour, check our blog posting at POV's website.
Here's a compilation of some photos from the trip. Enjoy!
Northern California Tour - Davis
Right after Sac State we headed to UC Davis for the closing night of the tour. It was another success and a packed house! Interestingly, a huge part of the organizing was done via facebook -within 2 days of sending the invitation, the event had already 100 confirmed attendees! (We've now set up our own facebook page for Made in L.A. -Check it out here!)It was also very interesting to connect with student issues on campus, in particular because one of the sponsoring orgs was Speak, a student group fighting for the rights of undocumented students. After the long and super interesting Q&A, we had another long line of students waiting to sign their DVDs!
Afterwards we went for a fun bilingual dinner with Prof. Almerindo Ojeda (second in line in the photo), director of the Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas (who gathered all the support from the rest of sponsoring organizations), with Neta Borshansky (first in line in the photo), who put flyers all across campus, and with new-made friends!
(Moises Park, who made the flyers and helped with the event, had drum practice and couldn't join us...).
It was the perfect closing event!
(This event was presented by the UCDavis Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas and co-sponsored by the Hemispheric Institute in the Americas, the Law School, The Department of Spanish, Women and Gender Studies, Chicana/o Studies, and Scholars Promoting Education Awareness and Knowledge -SPEAK.)
Northern California Tour - Sacramento
On Wednesday, our 5th day on the road, we had a lunchtime screening at Sacramento State University. This event is a testament to the kind of grassroots organizing that the film can incite: last October we received an e-mail from a student named Devin Yoshikawa, who had seen Made in L.A. on PBS and loved it. Devin was a business student at Sacramento State, and when I told him that there was a possibility we could come there as part of our tour, he moved heaven and earth to make our SAC state visit a reality! He gathered support from other campus organizations, including the Multi Cultural Center and Professor Eric Vega, he contacted local newspapers, got the event listed in the Sacramento Bee, made flyers and posted them across campus. As a result, we had a full house and a marvelous event! In addition, a UNITE-HERE representative was able to join the screening, which resulted in a very interesting discussion around issues of fair labor and sweatshops...
(This event was sponsored by: The Multi-Cultural Center, M.E.Ch.A., The Serna Center, The Campus Progressive Alliance, TeamTeca, La Rosa Network, Ethnic Studies Department and Womens Resource Center.)
Northern California Tour - Stanford
On Tuesday, our 4th day of the tour, we visited Stanford. We met with different student groups throughout the day, and had a big screening at night. Our schedule was busy indeed: we had lunch at the amazing Casa Zapata, then we did a guest lecture at (Professor and Filmmaker) Jan Krawitz's "Documentary Perspectives" class, had a meeting with the students at El Centro Chicano, and then a reception with the different student and campus organizations that had sponsored the event. It was moving to see the reaction to the film from a very diverse group of students, especially from groups that have been so active around anti-sweatshop issues. Last year the Stanford "Sweatfree" campaign and their sit-in gained so much publicity that our broadcaster, PBS POV series invited students from the campaign to write something about the film on the POV website!
 | This event was sponsored by: The Riddell Fund and Residential Education. Collaborators: Okada, Casa Zapata, Asian American Activities Center, El Centro Chicano, Film Studies, Sweatfree Campaign, Stanford Asian American Activism Coalition, MEChA, and CSRE. |
| Robert talks to Anne Takemoto, Resident Fellow at the Okada House, who put all the event together! |
Northern California Tour - Santa Cruz
There was a beautiful reception before the screening at the Chicano/Latino Resource Center, where we met with students and where the organizers gave us nice presents as thank you gifts... After heading to the screening venue, we were amazed to see groups of students keep arriving and arriving ... By the end, the organizers counted 450 students!!! Imagine that many students laughing at the same time, crying at same time and experiencing the film together. As the credits rolled, Robert and I went on stage with Lupe, and were welcomed with a long, emotional, standing ovation!
Following a bilingual Q & A, a long line of students formed to talk to us and to get their DVDs and postcards autographed. Lupe was regarded a bit like a rock star, with a long line of young Latina students surrounding her for more than 45 minutes. It was all extremely beautiful and inspiring, and the event helped us begin to understand the power of the film to move young Latinas and Latinos, especially whose parents are immigrants, to make them feel proud of who they are, and to inspire them to action.
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| Lupe sorrounded by a long line of Latinas waiting to talk to her! | With some of the organizers of the event: Dana Frank, Robert, Almudena, Lilly Pinedo, Rocio, Lupe, and Rosalee Cabrera. |
As a result of this screening, we received an invitation from the Reel Work Film Festival in Santa Cruz, so we will be back there in town on April 26th!!! (details to come -if you want to stay updated join our list or visit our screenings page periodically).
(This event was sponsored by: The Chicano Latino Resource Center (CLRC), Labor Studies, EL CENTRO: Chicano Latino Resource Center, Women of Color Research Cluster and Stevenson College)
