Ilana Trachtman
Director/Producer

Ilana Trachtman is an Emmy award–winning documentary and children’s television producer based in Philadelphia. For seventeen years, she has produced and directed nonfiction programs in both English and Spanish for PBS, HBO Family, ABC-TV, Showtime, Sundance Channel, Lifetime, Discovery, Trio, A&E, Thirteen/WNET, The Biography Channel and Sesame Workshop. Ilana recently directed an episode of Henry Louise Gates’ landmark series for PBS, Black in Latin America. Ilana also served as the Supervising Producer on PBS’s long-running History Detectives and on the Sundance Channel’s critically acclaimed series Big Ideas for a Small Planet. Other favorite projects include directing Texas Ranch House, the PBS reality/documentary series set in 1867; Our Heroes, Ourselves (Lifetime), an award-winning documentary special about grassroots women heroes; Biography: Sylvia Plath, and 24 w/, a stylized “day in the life” series following pop culture icons. Ilana’s independent feature documentary, Praying with Lior(2008) was released theatrically in over 60 cities in the US and abroad by First Run Features. The film received 6 Audience Awards for Best Documentary, the Grand Prix at the International Disability Film Festival in Moscow, and was a critic’s pick of the New York Times, New York Magazine, the Washington Post, and Philadelphia Inquirer.

Kelly Sheehan
Co-Producer

Kelly guides the development, production, distribution and marketing efforts for independent feature documentaries that are screened around world. Recent films include Four Seasons Lodge, released theatrically in 2009 by First Run Features and broadcast on PBS stations in 2011, Crossing Arizona, which premiered in competition at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was broadcast on Sundance Channel, and Follow My Voice With The Music of Hedwig produced in association with Sundance Channel and featuring John Cameron Mitchell, Yoko Ono, Rufus Wainwright and many other. Working with director Nathaniel Kahn, Kelly also developed the Academy Award-nominated feature documentary My Architect, released by New Yorker Films and HBO.

Production Credits

Co-director and Editor
Kim Connell

Executive Producer
Alejandro Springall

Project Advisors
Dr. Daniel Sheehy
Laura Sobrino
Richard Carranza
Carola Suarez-Orozco
Naïm Amor

Mariachi High is a documentary that captures a year in the life of top-ranked student musicians in “Mariachi Halcon,” the varsity-level championship ensemble at Zapata High School on the border of South Texas. The experiences of these students can spark valuable discussions about the satisfaction that comes from pursuing excellence, the importance of family and community involvement, and how music education can motivate students to stay in school.

This guide is designed for use in both community screenings and with high school students in a classroom setting. By combining the stories of the students featured in the film with thought-provoking discussion, you can raise awareness about the dropout crisis in the United States, explore factors that help young people to stay in school, and inspire students, teachers, parents, and community members to get involved in the movement to improve local graduation rates.

Mariachi High is part of American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen, a national public media initiative made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to help communities across the country address the high school dropout crisis. For more information, please visit: www.americangraduate.org.

Download Mariachi High Discussion Guide