Los Angeles (January 2004). The Latino Public Broadcasting funded documentary FARMINGVILLE made it’s theatrical premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and left with a Special Jury Prize as the festival came to a close in Park City, Utah. FARMINGVILLE was awarded the Special Jury Prize out of 46 documentary feature films accepted into the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. LPB Chairman Edward James Olmos proudly announces the recognition bestowed by the Sundance Documentary Jury to the film directed and produced by Catherine Tambini and Carlos Sandoval.
The 90 minute documentary, FARMINGVILLE, explores the chilling hate-based attempted murders of two Mexican day laborers that catapulted the Long Island town of Farmingville into national headlines, unmasking a frontline of the new border wars – suburbia. Blending the stories of town residents and day laborers, this bilingual, verité documentary reveals the human impact of mismanaged national policies that lead to fear, isolation, racism, and violence.
“I applaud Carlos’ and Catherine’s vision to make a film that shows the humanity behind the debating issue of immigration in this country. The documentary successfully captures the honest sentiments of both the day laborers and the residents of Farmingville,” said LPB Chairman Edward James Olmos.
The film uncovers the ongoing stress and strains of a community of 15,000 that suddenly found 1,500 men on its street corners waiting to be hired for work in landscape and construction. The documentary focuses on the trauma of a small town that becomes the focus of national immigration battles.
The filmmakers lived and worked in the city of Farmingville for nearly a year in order to capture first hand the voices of people for whom immigration in the new global economy is not an abstract debate, but a reality of daily life.
“The film is a powerful representation of how filmmakers can make a difference in their communities and help to voice out hard issues that nobody wants to talk about. We are working to insure that more of these hard-hitting, award-winning projects get the support that they deserve,” Executive Director Luca Bentivoglio adds.
FARMINGVILLE was produced in association with LPB (Latino Public Broadcasting), ITVS (Independent Television Service), P.O.V./American Documentary, Inc., and Moxie Films. It was developed with the assistance of Sundance Institute and supported by a grant from Sundance Institute Documentary Fund. FARMINGVILLE will be a P.O.V. premiere in PBS’ 2004 season.
ABOUT LPB
Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) supports the development, production, acquisition and distribution of non-commercial educational and cultural television that is representative of Latino people, or addresses issues of particular interest to Latino Americans. These programs are produced for dissemination to the public broadcasting stations, and other public telecommunication entities. By acting as a minority consortium, LPB provides a voice to the diverse Latino community throughout the United States.
The goal of LPB is to create a structure and process that allows Latino artists, the public broadcasting resources, community, government and the private sector to bring their resources and creativity to the service of the public. LPB has funded more than forty projects for public television since its creation in 1998.
LPB is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private, non-profit corporation created by Congress in 1967. The mission of CPB is to facilitate the development of, and ensure universal access to, high-quality programming and telecommunications services. It does this in conjunction with non-commercial educational telecommunications licensees across America.
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