Top Honors Go to Phillip Rodriguez’s
“Brown is the New Green: George Lopez and the American Dream”
LOS ANGELES, CA, AUGUST 22 — Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB), a non-profit organization funded by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, announced today that “Brown is the New Green: George Lopez and the American Dream” won the 2008 Imagen Award for Best Documentary for Television. Produced by writer/director Phillip Rodriguez, “Brown is the New Green” is a fresh, provocative film examining how media and marketers are shaping America’s perceptions of Latinos. The striking documentary features the extraordinary insights of Latino comedian, icon and advocate George Lopez through rare behind-the-scenes access to his remarkable life and career.
“Phillip Rodriguez has again delivered an entertaining and intelligent documentary that deserves the accolades it has received from viewers and critics. We proudly share in the celebration for his Imagen Award. LPB also wants to congratulate the other three nominees in the Documentary category, who were supported by LPB. Together they demonstrate the breadth and depth of Latino talent working in public media,” said Patricia Boero, Executive Director of LPB.
At the 23rd Annual Imagen Awards on Thursday, August 21 at 7 PM in Beverly Hills, The Imagen Foundation bestowed the Lifetime Achievement Award to actor Tony Plana; the Creative Achievement Award to HBO’s In Treatment Producer/Director Rodrigo Garcia; and the Norman Lear Writer’s Award to Ligiah Villalobos, executive producer and writer of the feature film La Misma Luna.
LPB has for a decade developed, produced, acquired and distributed projects that shed light on the Latino American experience. Their history of providing a voice to the diverse Latino community throughout the United States includes the Emmy nominated “The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo,” a portrait of the Mexican artist; the Alma Award winner “Roberto Clemente,” chronicling the life of the legendary baseball player; and the Imagen and Alma Award winner VOCES, a dynamic thirteen part series devoted to exploring and showcasing the best of Latino culture.
About The Imagen Foundation
With financial support from Norman Lear’s Embassy Communications, staff support from NCCJ, the cooperation of many entertainment companies, the leadership of Helen Hernandez and a voluntary advisory committee of professionals and community leaders, the Imagen Awards became a successful enterprise. Since 1985, the Imagen Awards competition has brought out the best and most talented portrayal of Latinos in television and film. For more information on the organization, please visit www.imagen.org.
About LPB
Created in 1998 by Edward James Olmos and Marlene Dermer, Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) is a non-profit organization funded by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting. LPB’s mission is to support the development, production, post-production, acquisition and distribution of non-commercial educational and cultural television that is representative of or addresses issues of particular interest to U.S. Latinos. These programs are produced for dissemination to public broadcasting stations and other public telecommunication entities. Mr. Olmos is presently LPB’s Chairman of the Board of Directors.
For more information, please visit www.lpbp.org.
Contact: Luis Ortiz
Email: luis.ortiz@lpbp.org
Phone: 
818-847-9656