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 Riverdale, NY - Manhattan College will host the premiere of the film The Chicano Wave/La Onda Chicana, a documentary which explores the evolution of Mexican-American music.
The event, presented by the history department, modern foreign languages and the provost’s office in celebration of Latino Heritage Month, will be held on Thursday, Sept. 10 in the Rodriguez Room of Miguel Hall.
The film, to be broadcast nationally in October as part of the four-hour series Latin Music USA, examines the struggle of Chicano artists – among them Ritchie Valens, Freddie Fender, Los Lobos, Linda Ronstadt and Selena – against discrimination and their move from the fringes to the national stage, profoundly influencing American popular music in the process.
In attendance during the premiere will be the producer, John Valadez, who has been making and directing award-winning, nationally broadcast documentaries for PBS and CNN for the past 14 years. He directed the critically acclaimed Passin’ It On about a former leader of the Black Panther Party who was falsely imprisoned for 19 years for the PBS series POV. His most recent film, The Last Conquistador, aired in 2008 on POV.
Valadez has twice been a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow, is a Rockefeller Fellow, a PBS/CPB Producers Academy Fellow, a founding member of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) and currently sits on the board of trustees of the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar.
Latin Music USA features a fast-paced mix of music and interviews. It will air in English on PBS, narrated by acclaimed actor Jimmy Smits, during two evenings (Oct. 12 & 19) with an available Spanish-language track. The series will also air on V-me, the fastest-growing Hispanic TV network in history, fully translated and narrated in Spanish.
For more information, please contact Dr. Julie Leininger Pycior, professor of history, at (718) 862-7126 or e-mail
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Founded in 1853, Manhattan College is an independent, Catholic, coeducational institution of higher learning offering more than 40 major programs of undergraduate study in the areas of arts, business, education, engineering and science, along with graduate programs in education and engineering. For more information about Manhattan College, visit www.manhattan.edu.
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