Voces
American Exile
Brothers Manuel and Valente Valenzuela both volunteered and fought in Vietnam. Fifty years later they are among thousands of U.S. military veterans who are being deported.
The Last Conquistador
The city of El Paso is divided over a new public statue of a conquistador that evokes pride in Hispanics, and outrage among Native Americans who consider him a terrorist.
- Series
- POV
- Premiere Date
- July 15, 2008
- Length
- 60 minutes
- Funding Initiative
- Open Call
Producer/Director
John J Valadez
John Valadez is a producer and director of award-winning documentaries for PBS and CNN, whose credits include Passin' It On, The Last Conquistador, Making Peace, Matters of Race, and Visiones: Latino Arts & Culture. He is a founding member of the New York City chapter of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP).
- Other ITVS Films
- American Exile
- The Longoria Affair
Producer/Director
Cristina Ibarra
For the past seven years, Cristina Ibarra has been making short fiction and non-fiction films that have been seen on public television, in galleries, museums, schools and film festivals across the United States including: the Guggenheim, Exit Art Gallery, the Queens Museum, Stanford and Brown Universities. Her award-winning directorial debut, Dirty Laundry: A Homemade Telenovela… Show more
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The Film
When the renowned sculptor John was commissioned to create a monument to Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate for the city of El Paso, it was meant to be a little larger than life-size. But Houser had other plans: to create the largest bronze equestrian statue ever created. To some, the massive statue is a fitting tribute to the contributions Hispanic people made to building the American West. But Native Americans are outraged — the Oñate they remember was the man who cut off the native people’s feet, brought genocide to their land, and sold their children into slavery. As El Paso divides along lines of race and class in The Last Conquistador, the artist must face the moral implications of his work.
