- Ask the Filmmakers: Calavera Highway's Renee Tajima-Peña and Evangeline Griego
For her film Calavera Highway, filmmaker Renee Tajima-Peña turned her camera to her husband Armando and the rest of his family as they deal with the death of their mother, Rosa, and their complicated family history. Her co-filmmaker, Evangeline Griego, collaborated with her, and they filmed Armando and his brother Carlos on a journey across […]
- Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month With POV
September 15 – October 15 is Hispanic Heritage month! Started in 1968 (as Hispanic Heritage Week), the now month-long observation recognizes the contributions of Hispanic Americans to the United States. September 15th is the anniversary of independence for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Gautemala, Honduras and Nicaragua; Mexico and Chile also celebrate their independence days in […]
- The Last Conquistador's John Valadez Answers Viewer Questions
John Valadez, along with Cristina Ibarra, is the co-director of The Last Conquistador. After the film aired on July 15, viewers wrote in with questions for John and Cristina on the POV Blog. Read on as John answers questions about John Houser, handling angry reactions from viewers and what’s happening in El Paso now. Anne […]
- Doc Soup: Questions on 'The Last Conquistador'
Independent journalist Tom Roston checks in and writes about the world of documentaries in his column, Doc Soup. Today, he raises some questions that came to mind as he watched the most recent POV film. So, I’ll repeat what I said in my Monday post that I think The Last Conquistador is a really good […]
- What's Your POV about 'The Last Conquistador?
It sounded like a perfect partnership. Renowned sculptor John Houser dreamed of building the world’s tallest bronze equestrian statue, a stunning monument to the Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate that would pay tribute to the contributions Hispanic people made to building the American West. The city of El Paso, Texas, was looking to improve its […]
- Ask the Filmmakers: The Last Conquistador's John J. Valadez and Cristina Ibarra
When John J. Valadez and Cristina Ibarra, learned that the city of El Paso had commissioned a sculptor to create a statue of Juan de Oñate, they knew they wanted to document the controversial public arts project that had come to be seen as a monument to culture by some, and as a glorification of […]
- Ask the Filmmaker: The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández's Kieran Fitzgerald
Kieran Fitzgerald was only 17 years old in 1997 when a team of Marines shot and killed an innocent American citizen on the Texas-Mexico border. The film, narrated by Tommy Lee Jones, recounts the shooting and killing of a young American named Esequiel Hernández in 1997 by U.S. Marines patrolling the border as part of […]
- What's Your POV?
The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández tells a frightening and cautionary tale about the dangers of using military as domestic law enforcement — a role that the military, under the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, had been prohibited from taking. In 1997, U.S. Marines patrolling the Texas-Mexican border as part of the U.S. war on drugs […]
- 2008 POV Preview: 'Last Conquistador'
Today, we continue looking ahead to our upcoming season. On Tuesday, July 15, POV will broadcast The Last Conquistador, by John Valadez and Cristina Ibarra. Renowned sculptor John Houser has a dream: to build the world’s tallest bronze equestrian statue for the city of El Paso, Texas. He envisions a stunning monument to the Spanish […]
- 2008 POV Preview: 'The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández'
We’re preparing for another great season here at POV and now, we’re less than two months away from the first broadcast of the summer. Today, we’re taking a sneak peek at The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández by Kieran Fitzgerald. In 1997, U.S. Marines patrolling the Texas-Mexico border as part of the War on Drugs […]