Espinosa Productions

"Singing Our Way to Freedom" is a vibrant, multilayered look at the life of Chicano musician, composer and community activist, Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez. The film chronicles Chunky’s life from his humble beginnings as a farmworker in Blythe, California to receiving one of the nation’s highest musical honors at the Library of Congress in Washington DC in 2013.

Using rare historical footage, vintage musical recordings, and interviews with 88-year-old Pedro J. Gonzalez and his wife, this film chronicles Gonzalez’s long and colorful life, from his early days with Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution, to his career as a popular radio personality in Los Angeles in the 1930s, to the controversial court case that sent him to San Prison, a victim of the repressive forces operating against the Chicano/Mexicano community during that period.

Richard Montoya, Herbert Siguenza and Ric Salinas are theater artists who form the Latino comedy troupe called Culture Clash.  Their style resembles the best vaudevillians of this country and Latin America. This story explores the development of their theater piece Bordertown, commissioned by the San Diego Repertory Theatre. Utilizing behind the scenes footage and interviews with Montoya, Siguenza, and Salinas, we examine how they shape Bordertown and offer their own interpretation of the region. They interviewed more than 100 people in San Diego and Tijuana and developed multiple characters whose lives are represented on the stage.  Some of these characters are unusual choices, like Shamu, Sea World’s killer whale and a married couple representing the U.S. and Mexico.

For most of the 20th century, to think of immigration was to think of Ellis Island and the bittersweet stories of generations of immigrants whose lives were touched as they passed through that landmark location. Usually overlooked in the national story of immigration has been our southwestern border. Millions of immigrants passed through this border on their way to becoming Americans. Many made the harrowing journey over well-worn paths, following the steps of hundreds of thousands of travelers before them.

Just before dawn on March 9, 1916, a band of Mexican revolutionaries loyal to General Francisco “Pancho” Villa crossed the border into the United States and attacked the town of Columbus, New Mexico. Within a matter of hours, seventeen Americans and 67 Mexicans lay dead. The next day, President Woodrow Wilson announced the formation of the Punitive Expedition under the command of General John “Blackjack” Pershing. Within three months over 150,000 U.S. National guardsmen and Army regulars would be mobilized, in what was the largest troop deployment in the United States since the Civil War. “The Hunt for Pancho Villa” recounts the events that brought the U.S. and Mexico to the brink of war in the early part of this century.

The story of indigenous women from Oaxaca, Mexico who migrate to the Mexico-United States border in search of work and a better life for themselves and their children. Mexicans from the state of Oaxaca have been immigrating to the U.S. for generations, sending 10,000 migrants a year to the United States since 1946. Women – both those left behind in Oaxaca and those who travel to the U.S. – have a story to tell that has been heard by few.

Follows directors journey to discover the life and times of Antonio José Martínez, an activist priest dedicated to the enlightenment ideals of representative democracy and public education in 19th century New Mexico.