About the film

LATINO WISCONSIN is an hour-long documentary that vividly illustrates the impact, influence and importance of Latinos, the state’s fastest growing population. 

The film received a 2021 Chicago/Midwest Emmy award for Documentary Program - Topical.

In five, episodic chapters, the film shows how the booming Latino population is reviving dying, rural communities and aging urban centers. Latinos are creating businesses and breathing new life into empty store fronts, filling empty classrooms, and developing community, cultural and educational programs that benefit entire communities. There’s also a new generation of leaders and professionals who are bringing new life, energy and diversity into the Badger State. 

Between 1990 and 2010, the state’s Latino population increased a staggering 261%, making it the fastest growing population in the state. Nearly 40% of Latinos in Wisconsin are under the age of 18, resulting in new schools to educate these children who are the future. 

The documentary examines the long history of Latinos in Milwaukee and Wisconsin, and the fights for civil rights, education and opportunities. And it shows the contributions of hard-working Latinos to the economic, educational, cultural and community development of the state. 

It tells the stories of the farmer and factory workers, leaders, educators, activists and others who are changing the face of Wisconsin and helping to reshape it’s future from the shores of Lake Michigan to the banks of the Mississippi.

But the development of the Latino community has been a rocky road through the years and the community faces challenges today and in the future.  There are struggles with poverty, education, immigration, jobs, economic opportunity, racism and political power.

Still, many Latinos are forging new paths politically, educationally and socially and working to build a future for themselves, their communities and the Dairy State. Because of demographic decline of the state’s aging, white population, Latinos are key to the state’s future. And their development and prosperity will help shape Wisconsin in this new century.