LA Latino: Film Honors Farmworker Turned Legendary Musician
‘Singing Our Way to Freedom’ tells story of Ramon ‘Chunky’ Sanchez. It’s screening at OC Film Fiesta.
By Cesar Arredondo, Managing Editor
Published on LatinoLA: October 25, 2019A farmworker-turned-musician whose performances in labor picket lines made him a favorite of labor Cesar Chavez and who eventually won one of the nation’s highest honors for artists is the subject of a documentary making the rounds in the festival circuit. The next stop for “Singing Our Way to Freedom,” which chronicling the life of Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez, is the OC Film Fiesta.
The award-winning, feature-length film chronicles the life and music of Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez from his humble beginnings as a farmworker in Blythe, California to the dramatic moment when he received one of his nation’s highest musical honors at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. in 2013. The award-winning documentary will screen at the AMC Orange in the City of Orange on Sunday, Oct. 27 at 4:30 p.m., coinciding with the third anniversary of the film’s subject’s passing. Sanchez died Oct. 28, 2016.
As a matter of full disclosure, LatinoLA.com is a sponsor of OC Film Fiesta.
FROM EMMY AWARD WINNER
“Singing Our Way to Freedom” is directed by Paul Espinosa, a longtime producer for PBS who has won several Emmys for films like “The Lemon Grove Incident” and “The U.S.-Mexican War.” His other award-winning films include “…and the earth did not swallow him” and “The Hunt for Pancho Villa.”
The documentary’s producing credits include a Mark Day, Michael Bovee and Evan Apodaca. The film is edited by Maria Zeiss, narrated by Alma Martinez and features scored music by Quetzal Flores of the Grammy Award winning band Quetzal.
The film won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the San Diego Latino Film Festival and has screened at other international competitions, including the Guadalajara International Film Festival and Cine Las Americas.
“Chunky and his band, Los Alacranes, had a following throughout Southern California and performed in many venues,” says Espinosa, who also produced the documentary and wrote the script. “His music and songs speak directly to the experiences of many Chicanos/Latinos in Orange County.” The filmmaker will join a screening discussion after the documentary’s OC Film Fiesta screening on Oct. 27.
ARTIST GROWN IN THE FIELDS
A son of Mexican immigrants whose both mother and father were farmworkers, Sanchez himself labored in the field in his youth. He also learned how to hone his musical and songwriting skills. In the 1960s, the young Sanchez joined the picket lines in the California fields with Cesar Chavez to demand justice and better wages for farmworkers. He also discovered that his music was a powerful weapon in creating social change and overcoming prejudice and racism. “We went in there and did two or three songs and everybody was ready to go out and challenge the world,” Sanchez recalls in the documentary. “It was powerful. It was penetrating to the soul.” He would eventually become Cesar Chavez’s favorite musician.
JOAN BAEZ, LOS ALACRANES
“Chunky’s journey in the film is a remarkable lens on a time when young Mexican Americans became Chicanos, inspired to use collective action to improve the lives of their communities,” says Espinosa. “His student activism began at San Diego State University with the community takeover of a section of public land that became Chicano Park in San Diego, an event which he memorialized in his enduring anthem, ‘Chicano Park Samba.'” He adds that Sanchez later performed on Joan Baez’s first Spanish language album “Gracias a la Vida” (Here’s to Life) in 1974 and eventually formed the band Los Alacranes Mojados, or The Wetback Scorpions. The group’s first album included an iconic photo of the band crossing the barbwire fence at the U.S.-Mexico border in Tijuana. Today that fence is a militarized zone, notes the director.
The filmmaker says the Sanchez’s performances and compelling songs became a favorite at demonstrations and rallies for over 40 years. He also performed at schools and prisons and even quinceañeras and weddings. “Through it all, Chunky used his music to build community, learning how to employ honesty, humor and song to inspire folks to stand up and speak truth to power,” explains Espinosa.
A MUSICIAN’S POWER
While some of the social ills Sanchez addressed in his songs are still present today, the legendary artist who came out of the Riverside County fields demonstrates what grassroots artists can do and achieve through their craft, according to the documentary’s director. “Racism and discrimination have not disappeared,” says Espinosa. “But Chunky’s arc of transformation from marginalized farm kid to charismatic activist shows how you can mobilize people to change the world through developing your talents and sense of purpose.”
For the filmmaker, the late singer can serve also as a source of inspiration for youths. “In today’s turbulent political and social landscape, young people continue to find their voices, making powerful and necessary contributions toward peaceful social change,” says Espinosa. “In his songs and in his life, Chunky offers an inspiring narrative about what’s possible, what’s ‘penetrating to the soul,’ reminding us that the battle for freedom has to be fought anew by every generation.”
“Singing Our Way to Freedom” is a production of Espinosa Productions. According to the company, the film was funded by hundreds of individual supporters and the Leichtag Foundation of San Diego County, Institute for Humanities Research at Arizona State University, KPBS-TV, San Diego County Board of Supervisors, National Association for Latino Arts and Culture Fund for the Arts, Arizona Community Foundation, Raza Development Fund of Phoenix, Arizona, and Price Philanthropies Foundation.
More tickets and more information visit www.masamedia.org/ocfilmfiesta2019.