Celebrate Hispanic & Latino Heritage Month
To celebrate Hispanic and Latino heritage and culture this September and October, PBS will offer a special lineup of new and encore programs in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, including the broadcast of The 37th Annual Hispanic Heritage Awards. It is a great time to learn more about the diversity of Hispanic and Latina/e/o/x experiences and cultures.
Programs and Specials
Nuestra Música
Captured live at the historic Lensic Theater in Santa fe earlier this year, Nuestra Música is an inspiring concert featuring some of New Mexico’s most renowned musicians performing songs at the heart of our musical heritage. It’s an exciting evening celebrating Hispano folk music.
Singing Our Way to Freedom
Explore the life and music of Ramon "Chunky" Sanchez, from his humble beginnings as a farmworker in Blythe, California to the dramatic moment when he received one of our nation's highest musical honors at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Chunky’s arc of transformation from marginalized farm kid to charismatic social activist shows how one person can mobilize people to change the world.
36th Hispanic Heritage Awards
Celebrate the recipients of the 36th annual Hispanic Heritage Awards. The evening commemorating Hispanic Heritage Month includes performances and appearances by some of the country's most celebrated Hispanic artists and visionaries.
Dia de los Muertos
¡Dia de los Muertos! is a musical celebration of this much-anticipated and highly celebrated fiesta by people of Mexican heritage everywhere. Special guests include Latino rock greats, Los Lobos, the salsa-rap-reggae-funk of Ozomatli — both Los Angeles-based — and the all-female mariachi band Flor de Toloache from New York City.
NATURE "The Bat Man of Mexico"
An ecologist tracks the lesser long-nosed bat’s epic migration across Mexico, braving hurricanes, snakes and seas of cockroaches, in order to save the species and the tequila plants they pollinate.
Bands of Enchantment "Flor De Toloache"
Having performed at the Kennedy Center, Coachella, and at NPR Tiny Desk Concert, this Grammy-nominated and Latin Grammy-winning band is not to be missed. Formed in New York City but hailing from across the globe these ladies are a show stopper and proudly our season 2 finale. Be sure to check out their new album out now produced by 11-time Grammy-winner Rafa Sardina.
Finding Your Roots "Mexican Roots"
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the deep Mexican roots of talk show host Mario Lopez and comedian Melissa Villaseñor, uncovering ancestors stretching back to the 1500s. Weaving together stories of migratory farmers, Spanish Conquistadors and Native Americans, Gates conjures up personal histories of diverse, sometimes conflicting, elements.
Roots of Comedy with Jesus Trejo "Vanessa Gonzalez"
Jesus Trejo follows Austin-based rising comedian Vanessa Gonzalez on a Texan adventure back to her hometown of Laredo. Vanessa shares the humor of her childhood as the daughter of first-generation, Mexican American border patrol agents.
Popular Series
La Frontera with Pati Jinich
Savor the sights, sounds and flavors of the U.S.-Mexico border alongside acclaimed chef and James Beard Award-winning host Pati Jinich as she experiences the region’s rich culture, people and cuisine.
La Otra Mirada
Set in 1920s Seville, where Teresa, a woman with a mysterious past, flees to a young girls' academy with a secret goal related to the academy itself. This series portrays the journey of brave women finding their own voice.
Wonders of Mexico
Travel south along Mexico's mountain spine, explore the tropical forests of the Maya and journey across the deserts of Northern Mexico to discover its amazing wildlife and culture.
Taco Mafia
A new generation of taqueros is showing how to achieve success in a post-pandemic world, while expanding the impact that a business can have in its own community. The self-proclaimed ‘Taco Mafia’ is forging a new path through friendship, sustainability, tradition, authenticity and a commitment to give back, while addressing issues such as sustainability, immigration, gentrification, and beyond.
Becoming Frida Kahlo
Explore the life of celebrated artist Frida Kahlo in a three-part docuseries. See the major personal and political events of her life, including her stormy and devoted relationship with artist Diego Rivera, whom she married not once but twice.
Latinos Are Essential
Latinos Are Essential is a collection of unique and insightful short portraits and stories about Latinos who are serving as essential workers in a wide variety of jobs and/or services across the United States, even as the COVID 19 pandemic continues to disproportionately impact Latino and other communities of color.
Independent Lens
Independent Lens "A Thousand Pines"
Over the course of a grueling eight months, a crew of Oaxacan guest workers plant trees throughout the United States. This intimate portrait shows how hard it is to balance the physical demands of reforestation and extreme isolation while staying connected to the family back home.
Independent Lens "Children of Las Brisas"
In Venezuela, amidst a backdrop of poverty, murder, and corruption, the El Sistema youth orchestra offers children hope and the opportunity to pursue a life of art in spite of the harshness of the society around them. Yet the country’s spiraling collapse and political repression threatens the musicians’ dreams of a better life.
Independent Lens "El Equipo"
Legendary U.S. anthropologist Dr. Clyde Snow sets out to train a new group of Latin American students in the use of forensic anthropology. Their goal: to investigate disappearances in Argentina during the “dirty war”. The group expands its horizons, traveling to El Salvador, Bolivia and Mexico, doggedly working behind the scenes to establish the facts for the families of the victims.
Independent Lens "Sansón and Me"
Filmmaker Rodrigo Reyes wants to document Sansón's story, an immigrant serving life in prison. Unable to film Sansón, the documentary creatively shares his narrative through reenactments of his letters, featuring his own family as actors.
Independent Lens "Folk Frontera"
Far West Texas is a place where local folklore looms as large as the landscape. Two fronteriza women—one a public radio music show host, the other a Mariachi and folklórico dancer—live in two cultures at the same time, as they struggle to find their place in the vast Chihuahuan Desert. Touches of magical realism infuse this portrait of life along the U.S.- Mexico border.
American Masters
American Masters "Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined"
Explore the story of Dominican-American poet and novelist Julia Alvarez, who burst onto the literary scene and blazed a trail for a generation of Latino authors.
American Masters "José Clemente Orozco: Man of Fire"
The life of Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco (1883-1949), a life filled with drama, adversity and triumph, is one of the great stories of the modern era. Despite poverty, childhood rheumatic fever that damaged his heart and an explosion in his youth that cost him his left hand, Orozco persisted in his wish to become an artist.
American Masters "Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It"
Discover how Moreno defied her humble upbringing and racism to become one of a select group of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award winners. Explore her 70-year career with new interviews, clips of her iconic roles and scenes of the star on set today.
American Masters "A Song for Cesar"
Trace the life and legacy of labor activist Cesar Chavez. Through interviews with Maya Angelou, Joan Baez, Carlos Santana and more, see how music and the arts were instrumental to the success of the social movement Chavez helped found, which mobilized thousands of farmworkers across the U.S.
American Masters "Ynés Mexía: Mexican-American Botanist and Adventurer"
An early participant in the environmental movement, U.S.-born Mexican American Ynés Mexía began her scientific career at age 51, leading botanical expeditions across Mexico, Central America, and South America. She became one of the most accomplished plant collectors of her time, discovering over 500 new plant species of which 50 are named in her honor.
American Masters "Jovita Idar: Mexican American Activist and Journalist"
Jovita Idar (1885-1946) helped organize the first Mexican American civil rights conference in 1911 to address racism, lynching, and dismal educational opportunities for Mexican American children.
American Masters "Lights, Camera, Acción"
Discover the candid perspectives of Latine actors, writers, producers, directors, and showrunners across generations as they dissect the ever-evolving issue of Latine representation in Hollywood. Featuring Edward James Olmos, John Leguizamo, Xolo Maridueña ("Cobra Kai"), and Julissa Calderon ("Gentefied"), Peter Murrieta ("Mr. Iglesias"), Marvin Lemus ("Gentefied") and more.
America ReFramed
America ReFramed "La Manplesa: An Uprising Remembered"
On May 5th, 1991, people took to the streets of Washington D.C.’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood to protest the police shooting of a young Salvadoran man, Daniel Gomez. Through testimony, song, poetry, and street theater, LA MANPLESA: An Uprising Remembered weaves together the collective memory of one of D.C.’s first barrios and dives into the roots of the '91 rebellion.
America ReFramed "The Unafraid"
Banned from attending Georgia’s top five public universities and from paying in-state tuition at other public colleges in the state, DACA students like Alejandro, Silvia, and Aldo unite through their activist work with an immigrants’ rights group. A humanizing portrait of the undocumented, we learn of their struggles as working families support their children in pursuit of their dreams.
America ReFramed "We Like It Like That"
Created by largely Puerto Rican, Cuban and African American youths living alongside each other in the 1960s, Boogaloo served as an authentic and vibrant cultural expression. "We Like It Like That" explores a pivotal moment in '60s music history when blues, funk and traditional Caribbean rhythms were fused to define a new generation of urban Latinos.
POV
POV "Chilly and Milly"
An animated documentary about a devoted caretaker, her chronically ill husband, and the power of undying love.
POV "Bulls and Saints"
After 20 years living in the United States, an undocumented family decides to return home. Little do they know it will be the most difficult journey of their lives and reawaken an intense desire for a place to belong. Set between the rodeo arenas of North Carolina and the spellbinding Mexican town they yearn for, Bulls and Saints is a love story about reverse migration, rebellion, and redemption.
POV "Uýra – The Rising Forest"
While traveling through the Amazon, Uýra shares ancestral knowledge with Indigenous youth to promote the significance of identity and place, threatened by Brazil's oppressive political regime. Through dance, poetry, and stunning characterization, Uýra boldly confronts historical racism, transphobia, and environmental destruction, while emphasizing the interdependence of humans and the environment.
POV "Hummingbirds"
In Hummingbirds, Silvia and Beba tell their own coming-of-age story, transforming their hometown on the Texas-Mexico border into a wonderland of creative expression and activist hijinks. Filmed collaboratively over the final summer of their fleeting youth, their cinematic self-portrait celebrates the power of friendship and joy as tools of survival and resistance.
American Experience
American Experience "Roberto Clemente"
Born in Puerto Rico, Clemente was an exceptional baseball player and humanitarian whose career sheds light on larger issues of immigration, civil rights and cultural change. He would die in a tragic plane crash in 1972.
American Experience "Zoot Suit Riots"
In June 1943, Los Angeles erupted into the worst race riots in the city to date. For ten straight nights, American sailors armed with make-shift weapons cruised Mexican American neighborhoods in search of "zoot-suiters" — hip, young Mexican teens dressed in baggy pants and long-tailed coats. The military men dragged kids — some as young as twelve years old — and viciously beat them.
VOCES
VOCES "Latino Vote: Dispatches from the Battleground"
Get an inside look at the high-stakes effort to get out the Latino vote in the 2020 election. Political candidates are focused on maximizing turnout and support from Latinos, poised to be the largest non-white voting bloc.
VOCES "Almost American'
Meet a Salvadoran-American family who have legally lived and worked in the nation’s capital for 20 years. Their lives are upended when Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for those from El Salvador and five other countries is revoked.
If Cities Could Dance
If Cities Could Dance "Queer Salsa: How One Nonbinary Couple Leads and Follows"
In Austin, Texas, non-binary couple Audrey Guerrero and Angie Egea, a.k.a. “The Kueen & Queen of Non-Binary Afro Latin Dance,” performs and teaches classes that break down traditional gender roles in salsa dancing. While traditionally a man leads and a woman follows in salsa, these dancers take turns leading and following and often switch roles within one dance.
If Cities Could Dance "Puerto Rico's Bomba, A Dance of The African Diaspora"
Witness the unstoppable joy of dancing bomba, Puerto Rico’s Afro-Puerto Rican dance of resistance. Meet sisters Mar and María Cruz who are dedicated to the dance and its legacy of survival, and trace some of the communities where bomba is at its most vibrant, from the Santurce area of San Juan, to Loíza, the bastion of Afro-Puerto Rican culture across the Rio Grande.
If Cities Could Dance "Follow a Capoeirista’s Journey From the Bay Area to Brazil"
Ricky "Malandro" Lawson II has practiced capoeira for 25 years, traveling often to its birthplace, Salvador, Bahia, to better understand the art form’s origins, and experience the deep ancestral energy in the most African city outside of the continent. Malandro returns to share how capoeira was birthed, efforts to ban it, and the legacy of Mestre Bimba, who brought it back from near extinction.
If Cities Could Dance "San Francisco's Dance Crew Blends Tap and Mexican Footwork"
La Mezcla dance company, founded and led by Vanessa Sanchez, uses dance and song to tell stories of Chicana history, culture and resistance. Blending tap dance and son jarocho zapateado (traditional footwork from Veracruz, Mexico) Sanchez describes this unique dance style as “zapatap.” Watch these dancers perform dynamic choreography in front of iconic Mission District murals and landmarks.