Below the Fold: The Pulitzer That Defined Latino Journalism is a 2007 American documentary film written and directed by Roberto Gudiño to chronicle the story of the Mexican American journalists of the Los Angeles Times who responded to negative portrayals of Latinos in the newspaper by publishing the newspaper series "Latinos".[1][2][3] The newspaper received the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for the series. Filmed on locations in Arizona, California and New York,[4] the project debuted at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival in October 2007.[5]

Below the Fold
The Pulitzer That Defined Latino Journalism
Directed byRoberto Gudiño
Written byRoberto Gudiño
Produced by
  • Roberto Gudiño
  • Olga Briseno
CinematographyRoberto Gudiño
Edited byRoberto Gudiño
Music byAnthony Chapman
Production
companies
  • Gudino Productions
  • Working Title Films
Release dates
Running time
26 minutes
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish

Synopsis edit

On July 12, 1981 the Los Angeles Times published the first article in what came to be known as the "Marauders Series". Full of negative stereotypes and inflammatory language, the series depicted African Americans and Latinos as ruthless thieves who committed crimes in affluent neighborhoods and who fled via L.A.'s freeways.

Mexican-American reporters organized and approached the Los Angeles Times editors with a proposed new series: in-depth feature articles on Southern California Latino life that would go beyond depictions of poverty, gangs, and crime. Their innovative story approach and produced a 27-part-story project. Some of their non-Hispanic newsroom colleagues made racist comments while the journalists worked, and the team had to fight to get the series nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Their efforts were rewarded with the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service,[6] presented to the Los Angeles Times. The first Latino group to be recognized with a Pulitzer, they were honored at the Pulitzer luncheon ceremony at Columbia University where Walter Cronkite and Peter Jennings were in attendance. Below The Fold tells the story of a group of people fighting to make their own voices heard. In doing so, present a complex and rich representation of Latinos in the news media and generally in the U.S.

Recognition edit

The film was called "a powerful and heartfelt account of the journalists who set out to change the stereotypical reporting on Latinos in southern California."[3]

Awards and accolades edit

Remake edit

When interviewed at the Imagen Awards in September 2008, Gudiño announced his "hopes to expand Below The Fold into a one-hour documentary for national broadcast."[9] In November 2010, Latino Public Broadcasting announced Above The Fold as one of the recipients of the 2010 Public Media Content Fund. Roberto Gudiño will be using the funding to expand the 2007 short film Below the Fold into a feature-length documentary to be called Above the Fold.[10][11][12] In April 2011, he received an additional $10,000 grant from Film Independent to complete his project,[13] the first LG Cinema 3D Fellowship in "Project:Involve" production grant to be awarded by them.[14]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Everett-haynes, La Monica (August 27, 2007). "Film tells of battle vs. Hispanic stereotypes". Tucson Citizen. Retrieved 2012-09-20.
  2. ^ "Below the Fold". New York International Latino Film Festival. Archived from the original on 2009-07-19. Retrieved 2012-09-20.
  3. ^ a b Zaragoza, Xavier (August 25, 2007). "Douglas filmmaker presents film on 1984 Latino Pulitzer winners". Douglas Dispatch. Retrieved 2012-09-21.
  4. ^ Earnshaw, Rob (April 19, 2009). "Film highlights story behind the story". Network Atzalan. Archived from the original on December 9, 2012. Retrieved 2012-09-21.
  5. ^ Gurza, Agustin (October 6, 2007). "Things are heating up". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-09-21.
  6. ^ "The 1984 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Public Service". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2018-07-22.
  7. ^ "Six UCLA student filmmakers honored by the DGA". UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Archived from the original on 2012-12-15. Retrieved 2012-09-21.
  8. ^ Admin (July 20, 2008). "Imagen Foundation to present top honours". Imagen Foundation. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 2012-09-21.
  9. ^ a b Zaragoza, Xavier (September 19, 2008). "Douglas filmmaker, cinematographer presents new online short film ..." Douglas Dispatch. Retrieved 2012-09-21.
  10. ^ "LPB Announces the Recipients of the 2010 Public Media Content Fund - Latino Public Broadcasting". Lpbporg.ning.com. November 8, 2010. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  11. ^ LPB. "Latino Public Broadcasting". Lpbp.org. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  12. ^ "Latinos In The Industry eNewsletter". Nalip.org. Archived from the original on 2011-04-29. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  13. ^ Saperstein, Pat (April 14, 2011). "Documaker Gudino wins Film Independent grant". Variety. Retrieved 2012-09-21.
  14. ^ "Film Independent Awards $10,000 Grant to Roberto Gudiño". Indiewire. April 14, 2011. Retrieved 2012-09-21.

External links edit