Way back when, a director named Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, a celebrated portrait photographer whose work is in the collections of numerous museums (the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, the Metropolitan Museum, the National Portrait Gallery), worked with Elvis Mitchell and Freemind Ventures to produce The Black List Project, a series of three HBO documentaries, a traveling museum exhibition of portraits, a book and DVDs. It did tremendously well. In fact, The Black List, Volume 1 received a NAACP Image Award. Now Greenfield-Sanders has returned to HBO with The Latino List, the beginnings of a similar project, with its own book of photographs and monologs and traveling exhibition. And the whole experience kicks off on September 28 on HBO Latino and September 29 on HBO.
NPR correspondent Maria Hinojosa is the interviewer this time, and she guides a wide range of prominent Latino personalities from music, science, journalism, theater, politics, business and government into revealing and surprising revelations about their personal histories and points of view. “The childhood inspirations that fueled their ambitions, how they achieved success, the evolving American cultural landscape they helped mold, the importance of preserving a distinct cultural identity for future generations to embrace and the challenges of discrimination” are all grist for the mill.
The subjects for the series are as fascinating as the questions. Gloria Estefan and her husband Emilio are on the list; so are Eva Longoria, America Ferrera, John Leguizamo, and Pitbull (his real name is Armando Christian Pérez, by the way). You’ll also see portraits of writer Sandra Cisneros (The House on Mango Street, Caramelo) and radio sensation Eddie “Piolin” Sotelo.
That, of course, is only the beginning. You’ll also see political leaders like U.S. Senator Robert “Bob” Mendez, Anthony D. Romero, is the first Puerto-Rican executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, and the founder of the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute and former director of El Museo del Barrio and the Association of Hispanic Arts, Dr. Marta Moreno Vega. Consuelo Castillo Kickbusch, the highest-ranking Hispanic woman in the U.S. Army’s combat support field, gets a portrait; so do Latino astronaut and engineer José Moreno Hernandez and financial guru, author and radio host, Cuban-born Julie Stav. Interestingly, only one
athlete is on the list–golfer “Chi-Chi” Rodriguez, the first Puerto Rican inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
And then there’s that little talk that Hinojosa is going to have with Justice Sonia Sotomayor…
One last pleasant thing about the project: look at the number of Latino names behind the camera, in high-level creative positions: The Latino List: directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders; interviews by Maria Hinojosa; executive producers, Ingrid Duran, Catherine Pino and Susan Gonzales; produced by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Tommy Walker and Michael Slap Sloane.
Now you’re talking.
Where to catch it—Right from the HBO press release:
Wednesday, Sept. 28, 9P on HBO Latino, and Thursday, Sept. 29, 8P on the main HBO channel in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.
Other HBO Latino playdates: Sept. 29 at 8P, Oct. 2 at 4P, Oct. 4 at 7:30A, 0:30P, Oct. 9 at 11:45A, Oct. 20 at 1:30P, Oct. 15 at 10A, and Oct. 18 at 12:30 A.
Other HBO playdates: Oct. 2 at 4P, Oct. 4 at 7:30A and 10:30P, Oct 10 at 1:30P, Oct. 15 at 10P and Oct. 18 at 12:30A.
HBO2 playdates: Oct. 9 at 6A, Oct. 17 at 8A, Oct. 21 at 4P, Oct. 26 at 10P, and Oct. 29 at 6:10A. So there is no excuse not to catch it!
More about the book and exhibition as details develop.
Photos: America Ferrera and Dr. Marta Moreno Vega ©Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
