Documentary featuring local teens to be shown at Knickerbocker Theatre in October
HOLLAND — A documentary film following a handful of local teens through the education system will be shown in Holland for the first time in October.
Cynthia Martinez’s “First Voice Generation” premiered in February and will be featured at Hope College’s Knickerbocker Theatre on Wednesday, Oct. 4.
More: Documentary featuring local teens to premiere this weekend at CMU film festival
The film will be shown at 6 p.m. as part of this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month Lecture at Hope College. The showing will be followed by a panel discussion with Martinez, college staff, and students and individuals featured in the film.
The public is invited and admission is free.
“First Voice Generation” focuses on first-generation college students, the education gap in America and access to higher education for low-income students.
The film follows three Latinx students from Holland High School and West Ottawa High School during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Production began in summer 2020 and was completed in early 2023.
Each student featured in the film was a member of Hope’s TRIO Upward Bound Program. Martinez is also an alumna of the program. Upward Bound helps students from first-generation and low-income backgrounds complete high school and enroll in and graduate from postsecondary education. Hope’s program has served thousands of local students since it began in 1968.
Martinez’s film has been shown in several festivals, including its debut at the Central Michigan International Film Festival. There, it won an award for Best Independent Film. It was also entered in the Capital City Film Festival in Lansing, The Mexican Television and Film Festival in Los Angeles — where Martinez won Best Director — the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival and the San Antonio Film Festival.
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“First Voice Generation” was also chosen for the 2023 Lady Filmmakers Festival in Beverly Hills, California, which takes place Sept. 28-Oct. 2.
For more information, visit hope.edu.
— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Film featuring local students coming to Knickerbocker Theatre in October