Drawing on interviews with more than fifty major personalities from a broad cross-section of disciplines, this tour de force both analyzes and celebrates the growing influence of Latino culture in the U.S. Featured guests include artist Andres Serrano, poet Pedro Pietri, composer Luis Dias, dancer Paloma Herrera, actor Guillermo Diaz, fashion designer Willey Esco, photographer Mariluz Gordillo, radio host Paco de Radio Mega, TV producer Gamelier de...

In this program, Geraldo Rivera and a host of Hispanic American executives discuss how they overcame racial and financial discrimination to turn their fledgling businesses into million-dollar corporations. The executives include construction mogul Linda Alvarado, owner of the Colorado Rockies baseball team; the developer of the Simpsons and Garfield cartoon programs; the owner of Dial-a-Mattress; and others. Executives from Chase Manhattan Bank speak...

Hispanics and African-Americans-from politicians to poets to everyday people-speak candidly about the tensions between their communities. In Los Angeles, Mexican-Americans resent the African-American perception of them as mostly illegal immigrants who are taking their jobs. In Miami, the division between blacks and Hispanics leaves Cubans feeling culturally isolated. In New York, Puerto Ricans and blacks speak frankly about competition for educational...

Though Hispanic people journey to the United States from different homelands, do they all share the same heritage and concerns? This program takes a detailed look at the fastest-growing minority in the U.S. and what it means to be Latino and American. The documentary contrasts the experience of being a Latino in a flourishing ethnic neighborhood of a big city with living in a small town, where many Latinos feel isolated. Interviews with individuals...

Anglo-Americans tend to lump Hispanics together, forgetting that the category covers a wide range of cultural backgrounds. Mexican culture is different from Puerto Rican culture, and so on. In this program, three Hispanic Americans-New York Justice Frank Torres, a Puerto Rican; Cuban-born former Miami mayor Xavier Suarez; and Mexican restaurateur Gordino Velasco-discuss what unites and divides the various groups. The Puerto Rican perception of themselves...

Richard Rodriguez, the son of Mexican immigrants, calls himself "a comic victim of two cultures. He started out speaking nothing but Spanish, and now argues for education in nothing but English. A Fulbright scholar with degrees from Stanford and Columbia, he suddenly walked away from a promising career in academia; despite his ambition to teach, he rebelled against job offers that, he says, came to him just because of his Hispanic surname. Condemned...

Luis Valdez is the celebrated founder of the Teatro Campesino, the West Coast theatrical group that has given voice to the struggles of Chicano farm workers. As a child, Valdez picked fruit alongside his father in California's fertile valleys. In this program, he describes how he overcame the handicaps of migrant life to become a playwright and director, and explains how his plays retrace the experiences of Chicano families as they contend with the...

Guiding viewers through a rich mosaic of history and culture, this program evokes the complexities of Mexico as experienced by its own people. The nation's indigenous and Spanish roots are both explored through nuanced discussions of iconic cultural elements-for example, viewers learn how the Day of the Dead reflects the national character by merging Catholic and pre-Columbian traditions. Meanwhile, a look at Mexico's modern urban landscape reveals...

Most Americans engage in "retail therapy" from time to time, but what form does it take among immigrant populations? Is excessive shopping a way of coming to grips with a new culture-and leaving another behind? This program examines that possibility in the context of the Latino community, raising provocative questions about cultural identity, consumerism, and assimilation. Ten first-generation immigrants from various Latin American countries-including...

People of Hispanic origin make up a rapidly growing socioeconomic sector in the U.S. Spanish is heard-and seen-almost everywhere; on thousands of TV channels and radio stations, not to mention in the day-to-day life of cities, towns, and rural areas across the nation. This program explores useful Spanish vocabulary and phrases as it profiles Americans for whom Spanish is the primary language. Viewers become familiar with members of a local pop group...