Award Winning Documentary Illustrates the Power of Art in Rebuilding a Community

(Los Angeles, CA)–The independent, award-winning documentary, 2501 MIGRANTS: A JOURNEY, will premiere on American Public Television on August 22, 2010 (check local listings). 2501 MIGRANTS: A JOURNEY is a feature-length documentary that explores global migration through the beauty of Oaxacan artist Alejandro Santiago. Returning from France to his village in the southern Mexican state Oaxaca, Alejandro is distraught by the reality that Oaxaca is one of Mexico’s leading “exporters of human labor” to the United States. Propelled by this, he decides to create a monumental installation art piece: 2,501 life-size sculptures, an homage to each and every migrant from his village. The film is about an artist’s search for meaning in the villages of Oaxaca that are breeding a unique kind of ghost town, where legions of young people grow up thinking they have no other choice but to emigrate to the United States once they are done with elementary school.

The Rockefeller Foundation and Latino Public Broadcasting funded this film. It was an Official Selection at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and was the Winner for Best Documentary Film at the Expresión en Corto International Film Festival.

Additionally, the film has screened as LACMA, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and will be screening at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York and Washington DC during Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15, 2010).

2501 Migrants: A Journey will be available for purchase from Cinema Libre Studios starting September 14, 2010.

About the Filmmaker

Yolanda Cruz (Director/Producer)

Yolanda Cruz is an award-winning Chatino filmmaker from Oaxaca, Mexico. Cruz, a Sundance Institute Native Lab Fellow, has produced seven documentaries on native people in the US and Mexico. Her work has screened to much acclaim at film festivals and museums around the world including the Sundance Film Festival, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Park la Villette in Paris, the National Geographic All Roads Film Project and the National Institute of Cinema in Mexico City. Yolanda holds an MFA from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. She speaks English, Spanish, and Chatino and wants to increase the representation of indigenous people in the media.

About APT

American Public Television (APT) has been a leading distributor of high-quality, top-rated programming to America’s public television stations since 1961. In 2009, APT distributed 56 of the top 100 highest-rated public television titles. Among its 300 new program titles per year are prominent documentaries, news and current affairs programs, dramatic series, how-to programs, children’s series and classic movies, including For Love of Liberty: The Story of America’s Black Patriots, A Ripple of Hope Rick Steves’ Europe, Newsline, Globe Trekker, Simply Ming, America’s Test Kitchen From Cook’s Illustrated, Lidia’s Italy, P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home, Murdoch Mysteries, Doc Martin, Rosemary and Thyme, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, The Great American Songbook and John Denver: The Wildlife Concert. APT also licenses programs internationally through its APT Worldwide service. In 2006, APT launched Create® – the TV channel featuring the best of public television’s lifestyle programming. APT is also a partner in the WORLD™ channel expansion project including its web presence at WORLDcompass.org. For more information about APT’s programs and services, visit APTonline.org. For more information on Create, visit CreateTV.com.

About Latino Public Broadcasting

Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) supports the development, production, acquisition and distribution of public media content that is representative of Latino people, or addresses issues of interest to Latino Americans. These programs, including the series ‘VOCES,’ are produced for dissemination to the public broadcasting stations. Edward James Olmos is founder and Chairman of the LPB Board of Directors. For more information, please visit www.lpbp.org and www.voces.tv.

CONTACT:
Yolanda Cruz, 323-383-6092
petate@petate.com