Family, Social Justice and Finding Meaning in Life
Award Winning Filmmakers to Premiere Documentary on Family, Social Justice and Finding Meaning in Life
Director/Writer/Producer Walter Dominguez and Executive Producer Shelley Morrison (Chasing Light Pictures, LLC) are opening their inspirational award-winning documentary, Weaving the Past: Journey of Discovery, at the Laemmle Playhouse 7 theaters in Pasadena, CA from Friday, August 15, to Thursday, Aug 21. Daily screenings during the run are 1:00, 4:00, 7:00 and 10:00 p.m.
In this film, which recently was recognized for its outstanding work by receiving an Accolade international film competition Award of Merit, and The Indie Fest Award for Documentary Feature and Editing, Los Angeles-based filmmaker Walter Dominguez takes viewers with him on his quest to unravel the secrets of his late Mexican-born grandfather, the Methodist Minister Emilio N. Hernandez.
Through compelling story-telling that weaves documentary footage, archival photographs, interviews and vivid re-enactments, Dominguez pieces together the remarkable journey of his grandfather, who began life in extreme poverty and at age five was forced to flee abuse at home and seek refuge as a worker on a large hacienda.
This was during the long dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, and Mexico’s masses were economically and politically crushed. Young Emilio and his friends began speaking out against the dictator and his oppression.
“Facing certain imprisonment and death by execution, my grandfather and his comrades escaped across the open U.S.-Mexico border and began a new life as laborers laying railroad tracks in the wide expanses of the American West and then eventually as miners in Arizona,” said Dominguez.
“The work at the mines in Arizona, where discrimination against Mexican laborers was rampant, caused them to begin unionizing Mexican miners, and then from their base of operations in the U.S. becoming major players in the growing movement to overthrow Porfirio Diaz, which ultimately succeeded – at great personal cost and death,” added Dominguez.
Among the many other revelations in this carefully researched and highly engaging documentary is a riveting portrayal of how Los Angeles’ Anglo Americans and Mexican immigrants successfully worked together one hundred years ago to create much-needed social change in the segregated city, and how Los Angeles played a key role in assisting the Mexican Revolution.
“It’s my hope that this film will not only give the viewer a better understanding of key historical events in Los Angeles and Mexico, but will also serve as a driving force in encouraging folks from a variety of ethnicities and traditions to work together in tackling the challenges of life.”
For more information about “Weaving the Past: Journey of Discovery” go to www.weavingthepast.com, and facebook.com/weaving the past: Journey of Discovery. (EPK is available on the website.)
