KPFA Film Screening

Harvest of Empire: The Untold Story of Latinos in America

Monday, November 12, 2012

While immigration is one of America’s most fiercely controversial issues, little is understood about the growing Latino presence in the U.S. This excellent new documentary reveals the direct correlation between centuries of U.S. armed intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean and today’s immigration crisis. 

Adapted from the popular new book written by award-winning journalist Juan González of radio and television’s Democracy Now!, the film by Wendy Thompson-Marquez and Eduardo López – in conjunction with director Peter Getzels and editor Catherine Shields –vigorously details the social conditions and U.S. government actions (overt and covert) that led inexorably to millions of Latino families to flee their homelands, triggering an unprecedented migration that is transforming America’s cultural and economic landscape. 

In addition to rare archival material, this film features interviews with Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú,the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Junot Diaz, Mexican historian Lorenzo Meyer, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero, poet Martín Espada, journalists Maria Hinojosa and Geraldo Rivera, historian and broadcast journalist Juan González, and film producer Wendy Thompson-Marquez.