Riding the PBS guilt trip

The War and local independent film makers

By Staff
Riding the PBS guilt trip
Local independent filmmakers Paul Espinosa and Pete Dimas say Ken Burn’s neglect of Latinos in his documentary The War may have launched a guilt trip at PBS that will benefit Latino film projects.

Both Espinosa and Dimas say they’ve struggled in the past to get PBS’ attention for films about the Latino community.

Espinosa is currently making a film about Padre Martinez, a 19th Century figure from New Mexico and believes PBS would be a receptive destination.
“There’s the potential that (the Burns controversy) will have a positive effect,” Espinosa says. “I think it’s caused a lot of soul-searching on the part of a lot of decisionmakers.”

Dimas, who produced the documentary, Los Veteranos of World War II, says he finally got local PBS station KAET to air his film during Hispanic Heritage Month after months of rejection because of an article Latino Perspectives published on the Burns affair.

PBS spokeswoman Lea Sloan told the Associated Press the episode caused the network to work harder to reach out to the Hispanic population.


This article appears in the October 2007 issue of Latino Perspectives Magazine.

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