International Services Center is proud to sponsor the ground-breaking documentary Harvest of Empire, which takes a provocative look at the untold story of Latinos in America at the 37th Annual Cleveland Film Festival.

At a time of heated and divisive debate over immigration,  International Services Center and Onyx Films is proud to present Harvest of Empire, a feature-length documentary that reveals the direct connection between the long history of U.S. intervention in Latin America and the immigration crisis we face today.

Based on the book by award-winning journalist and Democracy Now! Co-host Juan González, Harvest of Empire takes an unflinching look at the role that U.S. economic and military interests played in triggering an unprecedented wave of migration that is transforming our nation’s cultural and economic landscape.

From the wars for territorial expansion that gave the U.S. control of Puerto Rico, Cuba and more than half of Mexico, to the covert operations that imposed oppressive military regimes in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador, Harvest of Empire unveils a moving human story that is largely unknown to the great majority of citizens in the U.S. “They never teach us in school that the huge Latino presence here is a direct result of our own government’s actions in Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America over many decades — actions that forced millions from that region to leave their homeland and journey north,” says Juan González at the beginning of the film.

Harvest of Empire provides a rare and powerful glimpse into the enormous sacrifices and rarely-noted triumphs of our nation’s growing Latino community.  The film features present day immigrant stories, rarely seen archival material, as well as interviews with such respected figures as Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Rigoberta Menchú, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Junot Díaz, Mexican historian Dr. Lorenzo Meyer, journalists Maria Hinojosa and Geraldo Rivera, Grammy award-winning singer Luis Enrique, and poet Martín Espada.

“Harvest of Empire is a breakthrough documentary in the way it connects the historical interaction between the US and Latin America with the immigration debate. Using rarely seen newsreel footage and interviews with prominent migrants from countries in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America, the film puts a human face on an issue too often reduced to vulgar stereotyping. It has the effect of changing the discourse from one of “illegality” to “historical truth.”

Ed Morales Univision News and Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race

For more  information and to view the trailer visit:  www.harvestofempiremovie.com

 For discounted tickets use the code “ISC” at www.clevelandfilm.org