Entertainment

HBO Seeks To Turn Out Latino Vote In New Documentary That Is ‘Non-Partisan, Sort-Of’

Alex Pfeiffer White House Correspondent
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WASHINGTON — “It’s non-partisan…sort of,” Lucinda Martinez, HBO’s vice president of multicultural marketing, said Tuesday before a screening of the upcoming documentary “Habla y Vota.”

Habla y Vota is the newest installment in HBO Latino’s “Habla” series which predominantly features celebrity Latinos. The upcoming documentary is about an hour long and features sixteen different Hispanics in individual segments giving anecdotes about why Hispanics should vote.

Like the HBO executive explained, the movie is non-partisan, but not really. In general, each Latino featured in the film speaks about the importance of the ethnic group upping up its voter turnout rate. Pew found that Hispanic voters turned out significantly less than their black and white counterparts in the 2012 election.

“We need to cause a ruckus if need be,” actress Adrienne Bailon said in a segment of the documentary called “amnesia.” Bailon focused on the theme of Latinos remembering where they came from and the sacrifices the generations before them made.

The next Latino celebrity in the documentary, singer Prince Royce, spoke about his wish for Republicans and Democrats to all be together, but still got political. At one point he belittled the idea of building a border wall between the United States and Mexico.

The next segment featured Julissa Arce, who worked on Wall Street as an illegal immigrant. She never mentioned Trump or Clinton, but made her preference clear. Arce spoke of how she was unable to visit her dying father in Mexico and said Latino voters need to be a voice for illegal immigrants who don’t have one.

“I was trying not to mention Donald Trump, but…” Lalo Alcarez, a political cartoonist, said before citing a stat that said 3 out of 4 eligible Latino voters don’t vote. A cartoon of his depicts Trump wearing a resemblance of a Nazi armband.

A lot of the talk from the people featured in the documentary mentioned the “stakes” at hand, framing the election as a must-win for Latinos. Comedian George Lopez mentioned that Latinos “can’t be silent” with “what’s going on politically.”

Not all of the rhetoric in the documentary, however, had a negative connotation. Frances Negrón-Muntaner spoke of the “imagination” that Latinos should possess. She described illegal immigrant DREAmers as “perhaps one of the most courageous social movements to develop in the United States.”

Univision journalist Jorge Ramos was confidant in the future of the United States. He described the fact that whites are estimated to become minorities in the 2040s as an “incredible, wonderful demographic revolution.”

“What we are seeing with Donald Trump is the resistance of those who don’t want this country to change, and they are going to lose simply because of the numbers,” Ramos added. The journalist referenced a Cesar Chavez quote that said the future is in the hands of Latinos. Ramos said that future is “now.”

Habla y Vota premiers on HBO Latino on September 16th 7 P.M EST.

Tags : hbo
Alex Pfeiffer