Focusing on one of the earliest school desegregation cases in U.S. history, The Lemon Grove Incident utilizes a unique combination of dramatized scenes, documentary interviews, and historical footage. The film examines the response of the Mexican American community in Lemon Grove, California, to a 1930 school board attempt to create a segregated school for the Mexican American children of the district.
Producer/Writer – Paul Espinosa
Director/Editor – Frank Christopher
Cinematographer – Russell Carpenter
A Production of KPBS-TV
National PBS broadcast, CINE Golden Eagle, Gold Award, Houston International Film Festival, Three Emmys, National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, San Diego Chapter, Best Historical-Cultural Program, Set Decoration and Photography/Other than News; program also nominated for Best Director, Writer (Espinosa) and Editor, Finalist, American Film Festival Certificate of Merit, American Bar Association, John Swett Award for Media Excellence, California Teachers Association, Ohio State Award, Achievement of Merit, Chris Bronze Plaque, Columbus International Film Festival, Recognition of Special Merit, California School Boards Association, Palm Springs International Film Festival, Selected for screening in “Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 1965-1985,” UCLA Wight Gallery, Fall and traveling nationwide. Honorable Mention, National Educational Film Festival, Cruzando Fronteras Film Fest, Washington, D.C. , San Sebastian (Spain) International Film Festival, Selected for inclusion in “Los Vecinos/The Neighbors,” a special international exhibition of images of life on the U.S./Mexico border by the Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego and exhibited throughout Mexico by the National Council of Culture and the Arts, Nominee, Imagen Award, National Conference of Christians and Jews