WORLD Channel Celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month

WORLD Channel will celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, showcasing more than 40 films that celebrate the history, culture and contributions of Hispanic Americans under its #WeAreLatinX Film Collection. From September 15 to October 15, WORLD will present programs by and about Latinx people, including all-new films from series DOC WORLD and a slate of unforgettable stories from America ReFramed, POV, Reel South, VOCES and more.

Doc World, a WORLD Channel series that brings international documentaries from around the globe to a U.S. audience, will premiere four films on WORLD Channel for this celebration.

Doc World: Siqueiros - Walls of Passion tells the story of the Mexican visual artist David Alfaro Siqueiros, one of the great Mexican artists of the 20th century and one of three great Mexican muralists, along with Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. As one of the primary advocates of modern public art, Siqueiros made his name on the world stage: he painted murals in Mexico, the U.S., Cuba, Chile, and Argentina; fought as a soldier in the Mexican Revolution and the Spanish Civil War; and even taught Jackson Pollock the drip technique in his experimental workshop in New York. In this film, producer/director Lorena Manriquez and co-director and director of photography Miguel Picker capture the story of Siqueiros and the resurrection of his Los Angeles Mural "America Tropical," located at the birthplace of Los Angeles and later championed by the Chicano movement as a symbol of its oppressed culture. Siqueiros - Walls of Passion will also be featured at the 2020 Latino Film Festival in San Diego in September. Airs Sunday, September 20 at 10:00pm ET on WORLD Channel

Doc World: Sands of Silence: Waves of Courage shares the 15-year quest of world-reporter Chelo Alvarez-Stehle as she exposes the underworld of sexual exploitation and trafficking from Asia to the Americas. Her journey leads to the windswept beach where her childhood ended and family secrets began. As she documents the transformation of sex-trafficking survivor Virginia Isaias - a Mexican AMERICAN WOMAN whose past is engulfed in a cycle of sexual exploitation - into an inspiring advocate committed to break that pattern, Chelo undertakes a parallel journey of healing and introspection and sets out to shatter the silence about sexual abuse in her own life. Produced by Chelo Alvarez-Stehle, the film has won numerous awards, including Best Documentary Feature at the Los Angeles Press Club Awards, Best Humanitarian Documentary from the Women's International Film and Television Showcase, and Best Documentary and Audience Choice Award at the Malibu International Film Festival. Airs Sunday, September 27, at 10:00pm ET on WORLD Channel

Doc World: Cocaine Prison follows the lives of three indigenous Bolivians who work at the lowest levels of the cocaine trade. Two inmates of an overcrowded prison film their daily experiences, while one inmate's sister must decide whether to traffic cocaine or become the first person in her family to pursue a college education. Cocaine Prison bridges the ever-widening gap between the North and the South and brings a new perspective to the War on Drugs being waged in the Andes. Airs Sunday, October 4 at 10:00pm ET on WORLD Channel

Doc World: Border South is directed by Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana, a Mexican immigrant filmmaker, who over the course of 5 years filmed the migrant routes from southern Mexico to the U.S. Mexico Border. The film highlights Gustavo Lopez Quiroz, a Nicaraguan migrant trying to cross into America, and Jason De León, a US researcher seeking traces of others who never made it. Paz-Pastrana assembles a vivid portrait of the thousands of immigrants who disappear along the trail. Border South reveals the immigrants' resilience, ingenuity, and humor as it exposes a global migration system that renders human beings invisible in life as well as death. Airs Sunday, October 11 at 10:00pm ET on WORLD Channel

"Every culture has their stories, their challenges and their moments for celebration," says Chris Hastings, WORLD Channel Executive Producer at GBH in Boston. "In today's environment, it's important to give a platform to voices that may not have had the chance to share these stories. We are proud to bring these films to WORLD Channel and to celebrate Hispanic-American culture."

In addition to the DOC WORLD presentations, WORLD Channel will showcase a variety of films celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month. The acclaimed AMERICA REFRAMED series will include The Unafraid, The Hands That Feeds, Councilwoman and The American Dream Deferred. Additional films will include MAKING IT in America, Latino Vote, Dispatches from the Battlefield, and P.O.V.: The Infiltrators. WORLD Channel will also broadcast the HISPANIC HERITAGE AWARDS on Friday, October 9.

On September 14, WORLD Channel kicked off Hispanic Heritage month with a special Meet the Makers preview event in partnership with Latino Public Broadcasting. Lorena Manriquez and Miguel Picker, co-directors of Siqueiros: Wall of Passion joined Chelsea Hernandez, director of VOCES: Building the American Dream for this special event, sharing clips from their films and their perspectives as they presented their work and engaged with a live online audience. The archived discussion can be found at https://worldchannel.org/collection/hispanic-heritage-month/.

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