The award-winning
documentary, "The Fight for Water: A Farm Worker Struggle",
was awarded another special award for Best Documentary, at
the Viña de Oro Fresno International Film Festival which
was held October 16 - 19, 2013, at the Historic Tower Theatre in Fresno,
California. The film, which features a historic water march that spanned
across the Westside of the California Central Valley to the San Luis Reservoir
by farmers and their farm workers, screened October 19 as the closing film of
the festival.
The documentary, which put
a human face to the historic 2009 water crisis and the environmental decision
that impacted a farm working community in the Westside of the California
Central Valley, now moves on to 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, 2013 at the Historic Fox Theatre. The film will
screen at 1:50 pm on Friday, November 9.
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, 2013.
The film, which
was also nominated for Excellence in Filmmaking and was Winner
Runner Up for Best Documentary in Cinematography and Runner Up for Best
Documentary Political Film at the Action on Film International
Film Festival, also screened internationally at the Kuala
Lumpur Eco Film Festival, in Malaysia, and the Life Sciences Film
Festival in the Czech Republic.
The film is truly an
independent film. Juan Carlos Oseguera, who wrote, produced, edited and
directed the film, is not associated with the California Latino Water
Coalition, which was the most prominent organization behind the 2009 Water
March, nor did he receive any funding from any political organization to make
the film. This film is his sole vision and perspective. He is an
alumni of San Francisco State University who has been a published film critic
and has won awards and recognitions in writing, producing and directing.
Hollywood actor Paul
Rodriguez, who helped organize the water march in the style of Cesar Chavez, is
featured in the film for his activism in this cause. Major political
figures from throughout the state, and community leaders representing the
Fresno 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. This affected their
community tremendously. Because of that, the governor had to declare the
affected area a disaster and provide government-run food assistance for over
two-hundred thousand farm working people who were displaced from their jobs.
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. He
wants viewers to understand the migrant farm workers and how they are a driving
force to our economy. 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.
For additional information
about the film, the film festivals screenings visit: