Spanning a period of almost eighty years, this inspirational and compelling film captures the life and legacy of Patrick Flores, the first Mexican American to be appointed Bishop in the history of the Catholic Church. The film chronicles his childhood and early years as a migrant farm worker, high school drop out and cantina musician. Patrick Flores dreamed of becoming a priest, a nearly impossible goal for a Mexican American in those days in Texas. The film is a microcosm of the struggles and triumphs of Mexican Americans. The film captures Patrick’s amazing journey to the top hierarchy of the Catholic Church, becoming one of the most influential Latino leaders in the United States.

Coming to PBS Spring/Summer 2008. Check local listings

After a childhood of playing cantinas and honky tonks, Los Lonely Boys blazed onto the music scene with a 2004 self-titled debut release that went multi-platinum and a 2005 Grammy win for their hit single, “Heaven”. The Garza brothers- Henry, Jojo, and Ringo- have a unique signature sound they call “Texican”. Los Lonely Boys Cottonfields and Crossroads brings their amazing story to the screen.

Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Hector Galan, himself a San Angelo native, fuses exciting live performances, vivid imagery of West Texas, intimate personal stories told by the band and their family, weaving a historical and cultural perspective on Los Lonely Boys, their Mexican-American roots and musical influences.

The film had its world premiere at the 2006 SXSW film festival and its West Coast Premiere at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. It was nominated for a 2007 Imagen Award for Best Documentary film and screened at the 3rd annual Turks & Caicos International Film Festival in October 2007.

National PBS Television Broadcast on Wednesday, Sept. 17th at 9:30 pm Eastern/Pacific, 8:30 pm Central time (check local PBS listings) Don’t Miss It!
Stay tuned!

Check the film’s website at: Los Lonely Boys Cottonfields and Crossroads Film Website

For Press/Reviews, go to LLB Doc/Press
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SIX-EPISODE PBS SERIES
The award winning VISIONES:LATINO ART & CULTURE is a journey through the music, words, dance, painting and performance of rich Latino cultures made more complex and fascinating by their history in our country. The series explores how contemporary Latino artists continue to build on rich traditions that reflect a unique multi-ethnic experience, taking established art forms and reinventing them, constantly challenging themselves and the communities which nurture them. From New York City’s break-dancers to mural-painters in Los Angeles and Chicago to theater in Texas, the series offers a unique cross section of Latino artists working today.

A co-production of the National Association of Latino Art & Culture and Galán Productions, Inc. Presented by ITVS, co-presented by Latino Public Broadcasting. Executive Producers: Hector Galán and Sally Jo Fifer (ITVS) for more info, go to www.visiones.org

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I Love My Freedom, I Love My Texas; On the Road with Mingo Saldivar Y Los Cuatro Espadas

Mingo Saldivar takes center stage in this electrifying music performance documentary that will surely make you want to dance. Produced and Directed by Hector Galán, I Love My Freedom, I Love My Texas captures the passionate spirit of one of conjunto’s most admired and popular accordion masters who is considered a National Treasure. Mingo Saldivar was honored by the National Endowment of the Arts with the highest honor- the National Heritage Fellowship for lifetime achievement in American music traditions. Mingo Saldivar and his band, los Cuatro Espadas (the Four of Spades) take us into their world and behind the scenes as they travel the highways and backroads of Texas in their RV. We go with Mingo all over- from honky tonks to Texas size dance halls.

Mingo Saldivar is known as “The Dancing Cowboy” for his unique stylized dancing moves as he pours his heart and soul into his exciting accordion style while performing. He has taken his accordion-driven conjunto all over the world. His artistic reputation has spread outside of Texas and the Southwest through performances throughout the country and in Europe, including at venues like Carnegie Hall, presidential inaugerations, at universities, and on a special tour of Africa and the Middle East sponsored by the U.S. Information Agency. He has performed extensively in northern Mexico where his fans have developed a dance in his honor, called Mingo Mania. Texas born and Texas bred, Mingo Saldivar, in a career spanning five decades, pays tribute in “I Love My Freedom, I Love My Texas”, to the very land from which conjunto music was born.

Hector Galán: Producer, Director, Film Editor
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* The story behind the holiday.

* First-person accounts shed light on one of the most pivotal moments in the history of the Americas.

In some ways, it is a companion story to the Alamo. But on May 5th, 1862, it was the Mexican forces who were besieged, and they engineered a stunning victory rather than a noble defeat. In the process, the history of the New World was reshaped.

Galán Inc. produced this hour long documentary, Cinco de Mayo, for the History Channel. Narrated by Henry Cisneros. Produced and Directed by Hector Galán.

Each May 5th, Cinco de Mayo celebrations are held in cities throughout the United States. Few people, however, know the history and cultural significance of this holiday. Cinco de Mayo is a story that began on a sweltering day in the city of Puebla, Mexico. It was in this city and surrounding forts that an ill-equipped Mexican Army along with Zacapoaxtla Indians and regular citizens beat the invading French Army, the most powerful army in the world at the time, in a bloody battle of the morning of May 5th, Cinco de Mayo, 1862.

The Cinco de Mayo story has never been told on American television. The History Channel brings this riveting story to viewers for the first time. Filmed in Mexico and the U.S., this film captures the events leading to the Cinco de Mayo battle and the stunning aftermath. With thousands of new reinforcements, the French eventually defeated Mexico, forcing President Benito Juarez to flee Mexico City. Napoleon the III’s goal of a French Empire in the America’s became a reality. Maximilian was chosen as the new Emperor and his wife Carlotta as Empress. We look at Maximilian’s doomed three year reign of Mexico and Carlota’s spiral into insanity.

Finally, with guerilla warfare armed by post Civil War United States, Benito Juarez forces the French to withdraw, leading to the capture and execution of Maximilian. Today the memory of the French occupation has faded, except for Cinco de Mayo, the day the Mexicans defeated one of the most powerful armies in the world.

Accordion Dreams, the much anticipated follow up to Hector Galán’s Songs of the Homeland, was broadcast nationally on PBS on August 30, 2001.

Accordion Dreamswas screened throughout the country including CineFestival of San Antonio, SXSW of Austin, the Los Angeles Latino Film Festival, CineSol Latino Film Festival, the Dallas Video Festival. A special screening was held at the historic La Villita DanceHall in San Benito, Texas and at the Great Plains Film Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska. Accordion Dreams was honored as the “best film to explicate the Latino/ethnic heritage of the Great Plains Region” with the prestigious “Rainbow Award”.

Accordion Dreams was also selected by the American Film Institute as a program participant in the 2001 Enhanced Television Workshop, where it is being developed as a prototype in the use of new technologies for the development of interactive, digital TV.

Awards:
ALMA Award Nominee
2001 “Rainbow Award”

Hector Galán: Writer, Producer, Director, Co- Editor

“…how sad to be born here, live here all your life, die here and not know what it is like to be an American…”
–colonia resident
Filmmaker Hector Galán takes you on a journey to the colonias. We travel into American communities where hope resides despite the fact that the streets have no names and often there is no running water or electricity.

Galán Inc.’s production of The Forgotten Americans, narrated by Henry Cisneros and produced/ directed/edited by Hector Galán, is a moving documentary special funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Forgotten Americans is a co-production of Galán Inc. and Texas State University, with Dr. Jaime Chahin, as executive producer. Forgotten Americans captures a day in the life of America’s poorest people along the Texas border who live in “colonias”. The film had its world premiere on March 17, 2000 at a special screening at the Smithsonian in Washington DC and then was nationally broadcast on PBS in December 2000 . It is now also available for purchase through our online catalog.

For more extensive information about this documentary and colonias, including Hector Galán’s filmmaker’s journal, please visit the PBS website on the Forgotten Americans

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Awards:
2000 “First Place”, 32nd Annual Media Awards Competition, National Council on Family Relations

Hector Galán: Writer, Producer, Director, Editor

SPECIAL: Six Part Series
National Airdate: September 23-24, 1999
Network:PBS
Description: Six independently produced segments examine contemporary
life along the U.S.-Mexico border. Unfinished Business
and Winter Texans produced by Galán Productions,
Inc. Hosted and narrated by John Quiñones from ABC’s 20/20.

Awards: The Border
2000 Nominated for Emmy for “Outstanding Achievement Magazine Program”
2000 “Honorable Mention”, Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego, CA Chapter

Hector Galán: Writer, Producer, Director, Editor

Tejano Music Awards Selena Tribute - Producer, Director

SPECIAL

National Airdate: May 5, 1996
Network: Independant Commercial television stations throughout the Southwest U.S. and Latin America
Description: Tribute to Selena on one year anniversary of her death.

Hector Galán: Writer Producer, Director, Editor

SPECIAL: FOUR PART SERIES

National Airdate: April 12th & 19th, 1996
Network:PBS
Description: Covers the Chicano movement from 1965 to 1975.
Features the Chicano land struggle, Cesar Chavez and the UFW,
Los Angeles High School walk-outs and the creation of La Raza
Unida third political party.

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“One of the most important documentaries ever produced on the history of Tejano Music… It is a compelling thought provoking piece not to be missed.”
– San Antonio Express News

“You couldn’t ask for a more comprehensive - or more accessible - intoroduction to Tejano music than Songs of the Homeland”
– Texas Monthly

“One of the Strengths of Songs of the Homeland is its multigenerational reach and the way it shows how the cultural sea changes were reflected in the music.”
– City Paper, Baltimore

SPECIAL
National Airdate: September 20, 1995
Network: PBS
Description: The history of the Texas Mexican experience as told through the development of Tejano music.

Filmed on location throughout Texas, Songs of the Homeland tells the story of Tejano Music. This critically acclaimed documentary features images of the past and present and includes performances and interviews with musical pioneers such as Tony de la Rosa, Valerio Longoria, Lydia Mendoza, Isidro Lopez, Sunny Ozuna, Mingo Saldivar, and Little Joe Hernandez. Produced by Award Winning Filmmaker Hector Galan, Songs of the Homeland is an exuberant journey into the heart and soul of Tejano music.

Awards:

• 1995 “Special Jury Award” at the CineFestival Latino Film & Video Exhibition
• 1994 “Award of Excellence” at the CineSol Latino Film Festival

Hector Galán: Writer, Producer, Director, Editor

Series: FRONTLINE
National Airdate: June 7, 1994
Network: PBS
Description: Examines the issues revolving around the heated debate on illegal immigration in the state of California.

Hector Galán: Producer, Director, Editor

“Victory will crown our efforts because justice triumphs in the end. But if death is our destiny, we will fall with our faces to the sky”

-Pancho Villa

“When the true history of this expedition is written, it will not be a very inspiring chapter for school children, or even grown-ups, to contemplate.”

-U.S. General John “Black Jack” Pershing

Series: THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
National Airdate: November 3, 1993
Network: PBS
Description: The story relates the significance behind Pancho Villa’s attack on Columbus, New Mexico, and General John J. Pershing’s subsequent failure to capture him.

Awards:
1994 Imagen Award given by The National Confrence
1994 Cine Golden Eagle given by the Council on International Non-Theatrical Events
1993 Spur Award for “Best Western TV Script-Documentary” given by Western Writers of America, Inc.

Hector Galán: Producer, Director

Special: Museum Exhibit, Texas A & I University, Kingsville
Completion Date: September 1993
Description: Introduction to the role of women in the ranching culture of South Texas from 1750 to the present, exploring the sources of these roles in Mexican and Spanish cultures.

Hector Galán: Producer, Director, Editor

Special: Part of “ELECTION ‘92″ Coverage
National Airdate: September 15, 1992
Network: PBS
Description: Examines the history of Latino voting patterns, as well as the potential impact of the growing Latino electorate on the 1992 presidential election.

Hector Galán: Producer, Director, Editor

Series: FRONTLINE
National Airdate: April 28, 1992
Network: PBS
Description: Looks at the children who are damaged and “lost” inside Arkansas’ troubled foster care system and the political battle between children’s advocates and Governor Bill Clinton just as he launches his Presidential campaign.

Hector Galán: Writer, Producer, Director, Editor

Series: FRONTLINE

National Airdate: June 11, 1991
Network: PBS
Description: Examines the dynamics of race through the military’s Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute as the students confront each other with their racial anger and frustration.

Hector Galán: Producer, Director, Editor

Series: THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
National Airdate: January 28, 1991
Network: PBS
Description: The story of Mexican-American copper miners whose labor battles from 1903 to 1946 shaped the course of Arizona history.

Awards:
1994 “Best Documentary Feature” at South by Southwest Film & Media Confrence
1991 Finalist at the Houston International Film Festival

Hector Galán: Producer, Director, Writer

SPECIAL
National Airdate: December 16, 1990
Network: Univision/PBS
Description: Profiles Latinas with AIDS, their struggles with the disease and coping with their families and society.

Hector Galán: Producer, Director, Writer

Series: FRONTLINE
National Airdate: April 17, 1990
Network: PBS
Description: Reveals how and why farmworkers remain the worst treated workers in America thirty years after Edward R. Murrow’s documentary, Harvest Of Shame, exposed the farmworkers’ lives.

Awards:
1991 “Golden Apple Award” on domestic social issues at the National Educational Film & Video Festival
1991 “Blue Ribbon Award” at the American Film & Video Festival

Hector Galán: Producer, Director, Writer, Editor

Series: FRONTLINE
National Airdate: April 4, 1989
Network: PBS
Description: Profiles a community held hostage by crack and those who are fighting back.

Hector Galán: Producer, Director, Editor

Series: FRONTLINE
National Airdate: February 23, 1988

Network: PBS
Description: Looks at the changes at the Penitentiary Of New Mexico eight years after one of the bloodiest riots in American penal history.

Hector Galán: Producer, Director, Writer, Editor

Special
National Airdate: January 8, 1988
Network: PBS
Description: Documents the dying traditions of Mexican-American cowboys in South Texas.

Hector Galán: Producer, Director, Writer, Editor

Series: FRONTLINE
National Airdate: February 10, 1987
Network: PBS
A harrowing look at the lives of those who seek treatment for drug addiction.

Hector Galán: Producer, Director, Writer, Editor

Series: FRONTLINE
National Airdate: April 1, 1986
Network: PBS
Description: Takes an in-depth look at the country’s complex political system.

Hector Galán: Producer, Director, Writer, Editor

Series: Hispanos National Airdate: February 17, 1985
Network: PBS
Description: Focuses on the growing Hispanic political and economic power in America.

Hector Galán: Producer, Director, Writer, Editor

Series: Hispanos
National Airdate: September 19, 1984
Network: PBS
Description: Features the life and works of a Mexican-American mask maker.

Hector Galán: Producer, Director, Writer

Series: Hispanos
National Airdate: August 8, 1984
Network: PBS
Description: Traces the path of an exile’s return visit to Cuba after twenty years.

Hector Galán: Producer, Director, Editor

Series: FRONTLINE
National Airdate: April 22, 1984
Network: PBS
Description: Looks at college athletics versus academics.

Hector Galán: Producer,Director

Series: FRONTLINE
National Airdate: July 11, 1983
Network: PBS
Description: A journey on the new underground railroad which probes the church’s involvement in the sanctuary movement.

Hector Galán: Producer, Director

Series: FRONTLINE
National Airdate: January 31, 1983
Network: PBS
Description: A look at the other Washington and examines the evolution of black political power in America.

Hector Galán: Producer, Director

Series: Matters Of Life And Death
National Airdate: Fall 1981 (varied)
Network: PBS
Description: Looks at the survival of the traditional Pueblo Indian culture through the eyes of the Pueblo Indian cross-country runners of New Mexico. This award winning documentary follows four Pueblo championship cross-country runners exploring cultural values associated with running and the complexity of carrying forward the tradition in contemporary Pueblo society.


Awards:
1982 Bronze Award given by International Film and Television Festival of New York
1982 Bronze Award given by Houston International Film Festival

Hector Galán: Producer, Director

Series: Checking It Out
National Airdate: Fall 1981
Network: PBS
Description: A national 26-part weekly documentary newsmagazine covering 70 stories dealing with social issues, celebrities, sports and performance.


Awards:
1982 ACT Award given by Action on Children’s Televison

Hector Galán: Senior Producer