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ASU Hosting Hispanic Filmmaker

March 03, 2014

Angelo State University will welcome Emmy-nominated filmmaker John J. Valadez to campus for a presentation on his latest PBS documentary, “American Latinos,” on Friday, March 7, in the Houston Harte University Center, 1910 Rosemont Drive.

Valadez will speak at 6 p.m. in the University Center’s C.J. Davidson Conference Center, and the event is open free to the public.  His film “American Latinos” is a six-hour documentary that depicts the history and struggles of Latinos in the U.S., providing an interesting glimpse into the country’s major minority group.

A producer, director and writer, Valadez was nominated for a 2011 Emmy Award for his work on the television documentary series “Independent Lens,” specifically the episode titled “The Longoria Affair.”  It details the events surrounding the refusal of a funeral home in Three Rivers, Texas, to host a wake for Felix Longoria, a decorated Mexican-American soldier killed in action during World War II.  Those events sparked a national civil rights movement led by Mexican-American veterans.

Valadez has also produced the TV documentary mini-series “Matters of Race,” the documentary TV movie “Beyond Brown: Pursuing the Promise” and an episode of the TV documentary series “P.O.V.” titled “The Last Conquistador.”  He also shared in a 2005 International Documentary Association (IDA) Award for his work on several episodes of the TV series “CNN Presents.”

His campus presentation is sponsored by ASU’s Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) Project, which is funded through a $3.22 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education under the Developing Hispanic Servicing Institutions (Title V) Program.

For more information, contact the HSI Project Office at 325-486-6611.