The local paper in Porterville, California is The Porterville Recorder. Porterville plays a starring role in the Migrant Child Farmworkers to High-Profile Professionals documentary as the Central Valley community is where the seeds for the documentary were planted – 20 years ago!
The Porterville Recorder’s article entitled “Ramon’s Resilience” wrote about Dr. Ramon Resa, one of the featured professionals in the film, and his participation in the private film screening held at Claremont McKenna College last month on March 11th which pointed out:
The genesis of what the documentary has become was actually 20 years ago. In 2006 Gift was on a panel for the National Speakers Association and Resa presented his idea “Farmworker to Pediatrician” five years before he wrote his book.
20 years?! “No, that’s incorrect – I’ll have to tell them to fix that.” – I thought. It’s been 10 years!
In actuality, the reporter was right. The project was born two decades ago, in Porterville, when my now-husband Jesse Gift met Ramon while serving on that National Speakers Association panel.
Jesse worked in national broadcast news for 20 years, editing and producing news segments seen by millions on every major network. He covered thousands of stories over those years. Not one story was about a farmworker. Jesse was blown away by the idea that a farmworker could become a pediatrician. He later realized that it was his unconscious bias created from never having seen any positive stories about farmworkers.
Fast forward 10 years to when Jesse and I decided to produce our own original documentary. Without a moment’s hesitation, we both agreed it was Ramon’s story that must be made into a documentary film. Thus, Migrant Child Farmworkers to High-Profile Professionals was born.
If you would like to book Dr. Resa for an interview or would like to learn about hosting a private screening event, email us: diane@themigrantchildfarmworkers.com