Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, Farmingville is a provocative, complex and emotionally charged look into the ongoing nationwide controversy surrounding a suburban community, its ever-expanding population of illegal immigrants, and the shocking hate-based attempted murders of two Mexican day laborers.
In the late 1990s, some 1,500 Mexican workers moved to the leafy, middle-class town of Farmingville, population 15,000. In some ways, it’s a familiar American story: an influx of illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico to do work the locals won’t; rising tensions with the Anglo population; charges and counter-charges of lawlessness and racism; protest marches, unity rallies and internet campaigns – then vicious hate crimes that tear the community apart. But this isn’t the story of a California, Texas or a Southwestern city. It’s the endlessly enthralling tale of Farmingville, New York, on Long Island
Sharply and intimately directed by Catherine Tambini and Carlos Sandoval, who moved to Farmingville after the tumultuous clash catapulted the town into the national headlines, Farmingville is an astounding glimpse into the issue that continues to anger, frighten and confuse us.
CREDITS
Produced and Directed by Catherine Tambini and Carlos Sandoval
Edited by John Bloomgarden and Mary Manhardt
Associate Producer Drew R. Figueroa
Cinematography by Catherine Tambini and Karola Ritter
Music by Steven Schoenberg
Written by Carlos Sandoval
Executive Producer for ITVS Sally Jo Feiffer
Executive Producer for POV Cara Mertes
Farmingville is a co-production of Camino Bluff Productions, Inc. and CatTails, LLC in association with Independent Television Service (ITVS), Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) and P.O.V./American Documentary, with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)
FUNDERS
Funding for Farmingville provided by The John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Horace and Amy Hagedorn Foundation, New York State Council for the Arts, Bishop John R. McGann Mission of Caring Fund of Catholic Health Services of Long Island, The Soros Documentary Fund of the Open Society, Long Island Community Foundation, Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, and our generous individual donors.
