PBS AND LATINO PUBLIC BROADCASTING PRESENT VOCES
NEW FOUR-PART LATINO ARTS AND CULTURE SHOWCASE, PREMIERING SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2012
Latino Public Broadcasting and PBS announced today that season three of VOCES, the signature Latino arts and culture documentary showcase series, will premiere in conjunction with Hispanic Heritage Month on four consecutive Friday nights at 10:00 p.m. starting September 28, 2012 (check local listings). VOCES is the only national television series devoted to exploring and celebrating the rich diversity of the Latino cultural experience.
The 2012 season showcases Latino artists, athletes and performers who reflect their culture while defying all expectations. From the housing projects of Brooklyn to a Mexican wrestling ring, from the ranches of California to the crumbling beauty of Castro’s Cuba, VOCES shines a light on the unexpected. The lineup includes Tales Of Masked Men, a fascinating insider’s look at the world of Mexican “lucha libre,” famous for its masked wrestlers; Escaramuza: Riding From the Heart, about a gutsy team of women rodeo riders vying to represent the U.S. at the National Charro Championships in Mexico; Unfinished Spaces, which tells the story of the Cuban Revolution through its most significant work of architecture, Cuba’s National Schools of Art, and the three visionary men who designed it; and Lemon, which follows Puerto Rican poet/performer Lemon Andersen, a three-time felon and one-time Tony Award winner, as he struggles to bring his life story to the New York stage while battling his darkest demons.
“It is very rewarding that PBS is presenting VOCES as part of the national primetime schedule,” said LPB Executive Director Sandie Viquez Pedlow. “It’s a clear sign that, in its renewed commitment to arts and culture programming, PBS recognizes the enormous impact that Latino artists, writers, musicians and others have made in shaping not only Latino culture but the vast mosaic of our collective American culture.”
“PBS is delighted to join forces with LPB to bring these remarkable documentaries to our national audience,” said Donald Thoms, PBS Vice President of Programming. “Latino culture is an integral part of the American experience and each of these films opens a window onto a fascinating world that we know our audiences will love learning about.”
Funding for VOCES was provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. In addition to its national broadcast,VOCES will also be available for free viewing online at pbs.org/voces.
The entire schedule for VOCES follows:
Friday, September 28, 2012, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET (check local listings)
Tales of Masked Men
Producer/Director: Carlos Avila; Co-Producer/Editor: Thomas Calderon
From the director of the acclaimed Foto-Novelas, Tales of Masked Men explores the fascinating, mysterious world of lucha libre and its role in Latino communities in the United States, Mexico and Latin America. Famous for its masked wrestlers and called by one aficionado “a sport in the key of melodrama,” lucha libre is part circus, part athletic contest, part theater. The sport inspires passionate loyalty while contributing a lasting cultural idiom to America’s pop culture landscape.
Friday, October 5, 2012, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET (check local listings)
Escaramuza: Riding from the Heart
Producers/Directors: Robin Rosenthal and Bill Yahraus
Las Azaleas are a gutsy team of women rodeo riders vying to represent the U.S. at the National Charro Championships in Mexico, where “to be Charro is to be Mexican.” Escaramuza, or skirmish, describes both their daredevil horseback ballets, ridden sidesaddle at top speed, and the intensity of their competition season. Neither life-altering challenges at home nor cartel violence across the border can keep Las Azaleas from their goal.
Friday, October 12, 2012, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET (check local listings)
Unfinished Spaces
Producers/Directors: Alysa Nahmias and Benjamin Murray
In 1961, in the heady first days of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro asked three visionary architects to build the Cuban National Arts Schools on what had been the golf course of a country club. Before the construction was completed, the Revolution became Sovietized, and suddenly the project was denounced as bourgeois and counter-revolutionary. These radical, magnificent buildings become a prism through which we see the turbulent, ever-shifting history of Castro’s Cuba and follow the fates of the three architects, now in their 80s, who may get a second chance to revitalize their utopian project.
Friday, October 19, 2012 at 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET (check local listings)
Lemon
Producers/Directors: Laura Brownson and Beth Levison
When Lemon Andersen held a Tony Award in his hands for his work in Russell Simmons’Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, it was close to a miracle. This poet/performer was a three-time felon who’d achieved more than anyone could have ever imagined. But when the show closed, he lost everything and moved his wife and two small daughters back to the projects. In desperation, he turned to the only thing he had left — his pen and his past.Lemon follows one man’s journey to bring his life story to the New York stage while battling his darkest demons.
About Latino Public Broadcasting
Latino Public Broadcasting is the leader in the development, production, acquisition and distribution of non-commercial educational and cultural media that is representative of Latino people, or addresses issues of particular interest to Latino Americans. These programs are produced for dissemination to public broadcasting stations and other public telecommunication entities. Latino Public Broadcasting provides a voice to the diverse Latino community throughout the United States and is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
About PBS
PBS, with its nearly 360 member stations, offers all Americans the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and online content. Each month, PBS reaches nearly 123 million people through television and more than 21 million people online, inviting them to experience the worlds of science, history, nature and public affairs; to hear diverse viewpoints; and to take front row seats to world-class drama and performances. PBS’ broad array of programs has been consistently honored by the industry’s most coveted award competitions. Teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade turn to PBS for digital content and services that help bring classroom lessons to life. PBS’ premier children’s TV programming and its website,pbskids.org, are parents’ and teachers’ most trusted partners in inspiring and nurturing curiosity and love of learning in children. More information about PBS is available at www.pbs.org, one of the leading dot-org websites on the Internet, or by following PBS on Twitter, Facebook or through our apps for mobile devices. Specific program information and updates for press are available at pbs.org/pressroom or by following PBS Pressroom on Twitter.
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CONTACTS:
Mary Lugo, CaraMar, Inc., 770-623-8190; lugo@negia.net
Cara White, CaraMar, Inc., 843-881-1480; cara.white@mac.com
For images and additional up-to-date information on this and other PBS programs, visit PBS PressRoom at pbs.org/pressroom.
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