California Ag TODAY: Bakersfield Screening is Nov. 8

The award-winning documentary, "The Fight for Water: A Farm Worker Struggle", which documents the historic 2009 Water March that spanned across the Westside of the California Central Valley to the San Luis Reservoir by farmers and their farm workers in order to restore their water, will screen in Bakersfield, California, as the "Official Selection" at this year's first ever Outside the Box Bakersfield Film Festival, which will be held November 8 - 10, at the Historic Fox Theater.

The film, which was just awarded Best Documentary at the Viña de Oro International Film Festival in Fresno, will screen Friday, November 8 at 1:50 pm. Tickets for the screening can be purchased online at www.foxtheateronline.com or at www.bakersfieldfilmfest.com.

The documentary, which put a human face to the historic water crisis and the environmental decision that impacted a farm working community in the Westside of the California Central Valley, has won accolades and worldwide recognition. The film was recently nominated for Excellence in Filmmaking and was Runner Up Winner for Best Documentary in Cinematography and Runner Up Winner for Best Political Documentary Film at the Action on Film International Film Festival. The film also screened internationally at the Kuala Lumpur Eco Film Festival, in Malaysia, and at the Life Sciences Film Festival, in the Czech Republic.

The film will also screen in Pacific Grove, California, as the "Official Selection" at this year's International Monarch Film Festival, which will be held December 11 and 12.

The film was produced by Juan Carlos Oseguera. He is a San Francisco State University alumnus who has been a published film critic and has won awards and recognitions in writing, producing and directing.

Oseguera is not associated with the California Latino Water Coalition, which was the prominent organization behind the 2009 Water March; nor did he receive any funds from any organization to produce the film. Oseguera wrote, edited and directed the film independently to maintain his sole vision and perspective.

Hollywood actor Paul Rodriguez, who helped organize the water march, is featured in the film for his activism in this cause. Major political figures from throughout the state, and community leaders representing the Central Valley community, who stood in favor and against the water cause, also appear on the film. Arnold Schwarzenegger also makes an appearance.

The documentary features two Latino farmers, Joe Del Bosque and George Delgado, who describe how federal water measures contributed to fields going dry in the West Side of the California Central Valley in 2009 while refuges that protect a threatened fish received all of the water designated for them. Because of this, workers were laid off and the governor had to declare the affected area a disaster in order to provide government-run food assistance for over two-hundred thousand farm working people who were now displaced from their jobs. Many of these were undocumented workers who did not have other means to turn to.

Oseguera, 39, who was raised in the California Central Valley by parents who were migrant farmworkers, understood the struggle they were facing and set out to document the their plight as a lesson to be learned and as a voice to be heard. Yet in his quest to understand this water situation, he uncovers class, racial and environmental intricacies behind water access and distribution in California, and the ripple effect it has on all of us. It is an eye opening documentary that everyone must see.