Celebrating the the legacy and contributions of Latinos in the USA going back over 500 years through film on September 19, October 10, and November 7.

Join us as we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month 2015 by using film to explore the African roots of Latin America, the legacy of Hispanics in the civil rights movement, and the connection between U.S. actions in Latin America and immigration. Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates the long and important presence of Hispanic and Latino Americans in North America, starting with the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas on October 12, 1492.

Admission is free and open to the public. Limited childcare available (first-come, first-serve). Parental discretion for youth.

The November 7 film will be a benefit for the Park Avenue Legal Clinic, that helps over 550 low-income people every year access the legal system by providing much-needed brief legal advice, service and referral.

September 19
7:00 p.m.

Film: Black in Latin America, Mexico and Peru: The Black Grandma in the Closet, PBS, 53 min.
Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., explores what happens when African and Hispanic worlds meet in Mexico and Peru.
Post-film performance and discussion: Jesus Purisaca performs Afro-Peruvian music and Dr. Louis Porter II leads a post-film discussion.

October 10
7:00 p.m.

Film: Viva la Causa, Southern Poverty Law Center, 40 min.  
Viva la Causa chronicles how Cesar Chavez, and his colleagues, inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., created a mass movement to improve the lives of farmworkers who labored for meager wages under appalling conditions.
Post-film discussion.

November 7
7:00 p.m.

Film: Harvest of Empire: The Untold Story of Latinos in America, 90 min.
Based on the book by award-winning journalist Juan González, this documentary reveals the connection between U.S. intervention in Latin America and the wave of migration that is transforming our nation. The film features the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Junot Díaz, journalists María Hinojosa and Geraldo Rivera, and Grammy award-winning singer Luis Enrique.
Post-film discussion. .