In honor of Director Andrew Shapter, who passed from a long fight with cancer on February 23, 2019, there will be a special premiere screening of PORVENIR, TEXAS:
Date: October 1, 2019
Venue: Paramount Theater in Austin, Texas.
Doors open at 6pm.
To reserve seats to this free screening, please email: porvenirmovie@gmail.com or click here!
In the early morning hours of January 28th, 1918, the town known as Porvenir, Texas, ceased to exist. A group of 15 Mexican men – some American citizens – were taken from their homes and executed. The perpetrators then burned the town to the ground and the remaining residents, mostly women and children, fled across the border to bury their dead.
Who were the killers? Why did they carry out such a horrific act?
Through interviews with historians and family members, site excavations and dramatizations, PORVENIR, TEXAS explores this tragic story, revisits what led to the events of that fateful night, and reveals tensions that remain along the border a century later. Descendants of both the victims and those allegedly responsible recount the stories passed down within their own families.
The only eyewitness to the massacre was 12-year-old Juan Flores, who watched the murder of his father and was spared at the last moment. The next day, Juan told his teacher, Harry Warren, what had happened. Warren found the 15 victims and documented their names in a notebook, including the names of their widows and children. Warren’s wife was Mexican-American and his father-in-law was one of the victims. Today, the families of the descendants are at the forefront of a fight to assure that this history will never be forgotten.
PORVENIR, TEXAS directed by Andrew Shapter and executive produced by Hector Galán, will premiere on Friday, October 4, 2019, 9:00-10:00 PM CT (check local listings) on VOCES, Latino Public Broadcasting’s arts and culture series, on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS Video App.
This program is a co-production of Roadwings Entertainment, Cine33, and Latino Public Broadcasting with major funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.