Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined by Adriana Bosc
Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) has announced the upcoming lineup of its signature series VOCES. From a ground-breaking new three-part series about Latino history from John Leguizamo to a portrait of one of America’s greatest writers, Julia Alvarez, to a visit with a New York City orchestra committed to keeping the Afro-Cuban beats of Machito and Tito Puente alive for the next generation, to films that examine various issues of importance to Latino voters in the upcoming elections, the new season of VOCES explores the rich diversity of the Latino experience across America.
During the second semester of 2024, VOCES will present the national broadcast premiere on PBS of the dcoumentary Almost American by Nina Alvarez; the biographical documentary Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined by Adriana Bosch; the three-part series American Historia: The Untold History of Latinos by Ben DeJesus, executive produced by John Leguizamo; Mambo Legends: The Music Never Ends by Mari Keiko Gonzalez; the documentary Latino Vote 2024 by Bernardo Ruiz; and Our Texas, Our Vote by Hector Galán.
“We’re proud to present these compelling new documentaries,” says Sandie Viquez Pedlow, Executive Director of Latino Public Broadcasting and Executive Producer of VOCES. “This season truly reflects the unique breadth of the American Latino experience, with its focus on the arts as well as explorations of history and current events.”
“For 26 years, Latino Public Broadcasting has been bringing outstanding documentaries to PBS audiences,” says LPB co-founder and board chairman Edward James Olmos. “Our Latino stories are an integral part of the American story, and this new season of VOCES showcases the often-overlooked artistry and influence of our communities.”
In the documentary feature Almost American by Alvarez, premiering on Monday, August 26, we meet a Salvadoran-American family who have legally lived and worked in the nation’s capital for 20 years. In 2016, changes to the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for individuals from El Salvador and five other countries create uncertainty for more than 400,000 TPS holders and 200,000 U.S.-born children, risking family separation.
Premiering on Tuesday, September 17, the new documentary Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined opens a window into the extraordinary journey of one of America’s most celebrated Latina writers, the Dominican-American poet and novelist who burst onto the literary scene and blazed a trail for a generation of Latino authors. The film accompanies her from her childhood in the Dominican Republic to a life of exile in New York City to a brilliant literary career that shows no sign of slowing down.
Her semi-autobiographical novel, How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, was published in 1991, followed by In the Time of the Butterflies (1994), which raised global awareness about life under Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. At 74, she recently published the critically acclaimed novel The Cemetery of Untold Stories. Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined is a co-presentation of American Masters and VOCES.
Actor and playwright John Leguizamo’s work preparing for his 2018 Broadway show, “Latin History for Morons,” produced an obsession with reading and researching the history of the Americas. His passion for uncovering the full scope of American history, coupled with his nature as a curious student of the world, resulted in American Historia: The Untold History of Latinos. In this three-part series screening on Fridays, September 29, October 4, and October 11, Leguizamo travels throughout Mexico and the U.S. to shed light on both the known and lesser-known Latino stories.
Mambo Legends: The Music Never Ends, premiering on Friday, October 4 is the story of The Mambo Legends Orchestra, which is committed to keeping the sounds of the great Afro-Cuban bandleaders Machito, Tito Puente, and Tito Rodriguez alive for future generations. Comprised of several former members of these legendary orchestras, The Mambo Legends provide a link to the golden era of music in New York in the early 1940s, when the Machito Orchestra fused the big-band sound of popular music with the rhythms of Africa, Cuba, and Puerto Rico to create an enduring musical genre beloved around the world.
Perfectly in time for the 2024 presidential elections, Latino Vote 2024 by three-time Emmy nominated director Ruiz, explores the range of issues that matter most to the politically diverse Latino community in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin and Arizona, as well as in California and Florida, two states with large Latino populations. The film, premiering on Tuesday, October 22, also examines the influence of Latino evangelical pastors in shaping community perspectives and the role that Spanish-language media will play in the 2024 election.
On the eve of the upcoming presidential election in Our Texas, Our Vote, acclaimed filmmaker Hector Galán takes viewers inside the largest Latino voter registration mobilization in Texas history, led by a new generation on the frontlines of a growing swing state that neither political party can ignore. The film premieres on Monday, October 28.
LPB has also announced the spring 2025 premiere of Slumlord Millionaire by Ellen Martinez and Steph Ching, which profiles a group of determined residents and dedicated nonprofit attorneys fighting corrupt landlords for the fundamental human right to a home. Currently streaming on VOCES From Here / From There / De aquí / de allá by Marlene “Mo” Morris, telling the story of Luis Cortes Romero, the first undocumented attorney to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
All titles will stream simultaneously with broadcast and be available on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS App, available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO.
