Banda, a Milwaukee native, and his production company Bandana Productions, is producing a three-part documentary series which chronicles the Mexican immigrant experience in 20th Century United States. The first two installments of the series were produced in cooperation with Wisconsin Public Television, aired nationally on PBS and won Emmy awards. Together with the third part, which is in the production stages, the series is designed to be an educational package.
"Teachers can use the documentary series to present the Mexican experience as another chapter in the American story," said Banda, 44. "There is an enormous void in curriculum that needs to be filled."
{INSERT_RELATED}Banda was born and raised on Milwaukee's north side, and growing up watching Disney movies, nature documentaries and travel shows whet his appetite for filmmaking. As a kid he visited local television stations out of curiosity about what journalists did, and that turned him on to journalism.
He graduated from Milwaukee Lutheran High School in 1975, and in 1976 entered the world of radio when he got a summer job at WOKY. That began a 12-year career that took Banda around the country for jobs from overnight disc jockey to general manager. In 1988 he ended up back where he started, taking a job as operations manager at WOKY.
All the while, Banda held on to his dream of doing documentaries. He built up a profile writing and producing industrial videos for companies, and in 1993 the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America asked him to produce a television program in Florida. During that time Banda rubbed shoulders with some PBS folks who introduced him to Wisconsin Public Television higher-ups. After Banda produced a program about stress for them, officials made a commitment to his next project, which would become the first installment of his award-winning documentary experience.
"Mountain's Mist and Mexico" tells the story of Banda's grandparents and their experiences as immigrants to the U.S. It aired in Wisconsin in 1995, and PBS broadcast it nationally in 1996.
In part two of the series, "Indigenous Always," Banda uses the story of La Malinche, the Indian woman who was Spanish explorer Hernando Cortes' translator and eventually the mother of his sons, to portray the experiences of mixed-race Americans.
"She was seen as a traitor to her culture, and that has always been part of the Mexican experience historically," said Banda, who is half Mexican and half Norwegian. "Mexicans in America often struggle with trying to balance becoming part of American culture while holding on to their Mexican culture."
"Indigenous Always" aired nationally on PBS in 2000, received five Emmy nominations and won two, in addition to four other industry awards.
Banda has been shooting for part three, "After the Immigrant," for about a year. The final installment focuses on experiences of Mexicans today, specifically the media portrayal of Mexicans, Banda said. He hopes it will be ready in about a year.
In addition to Wisconsin Public Television, Banda also has worked with the UW-Madison, the University of California-Santa Barbara and the University of Maryland to produce the series. Banda will present "After the Immigrant" at a conference in May in Santa Barbara. He narrates all three shows and will be on camera in the third show.
While working on his documentary package Banda, who with his wife Anne has two children, Maren and Joshua, found time to create an exhibit for the Mexican Fine Arts Museum in Chicago.
The exhibit, "Mexicanidad," illustrates the history of Mexican identity from Indian culture to the mixture of cuture today in America, Banda said. It incorporates a nine-screen video wall, murals painted by Mexican artists and two members of the Milwaukee Ballet who perform an interpretive dance of the Mexican experience. The exhibit will be on display for five years.
Banda hopes his work will provide balance to the history that currently is taught in schools.
"When I was a kid, the only thing we learned in school about Mexicans was negative," Banda said. "The stories I'm telling are just another chapter in the American story. I never saw a book about Mexican history written by a Mexican until my wife handed me one a few years ago."
When Banda wraps up his series, he hopes to start working on his dream project. Anthropological evidence indicates that Spanish explorers may not have been the first whites to reach Mexico, but Scandinavian Vikings may have gotten there 300 to 400 years before Hernando Cortes. Banda has already begun making contacts in Mexico and doing preliminary research on the issue.
"I'll go to Mexico and trace the paths of exploration," Banda said. "This could turn into a new history lesson."
For more on Dan Banda and Bandana Productions, click here.
