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Made in L.A. | Click here to return to homepage

Premiered: September 4, 2007 at 10PM | Check for Rebroadcasts

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POINT OF VIEW

Watching Made in L.A.

Like Lupe, Maura and María, many other immigrant women around America struggle to make a better life for themselves by working in garment factories with low pay and unsafe working conditions. P.O.V. asked activists and policymakers in the fields of immigration and labor to comment on the film, and on the opportunities and setbacks that immigrants encounter in America.

More Special Features

Bill Richardson

Governor Bill Richardson
Immigration — under any guise — is one of the defining issues of our age. With "Made in L.A.," Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar show in vivid detail that, at a fundamental level, this is not simply an issue of competitive intermingling of people, but that it is also an issue of the assault on universal human dignity in the face of enormous global economic pressures.
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Robert Ross

Author Robert Ross
"In southern China's export factories, young women live in walled or fenced factory complexes, in single sex dormitories, crowded in rooms with many-tiered bunk beds, and they work even longer hours than the workers in L.A. or Managua ... In the global "rag-trade" there is a "Race to the Bottom" in labor standards, where China and other low-wage Asian countries define the bottom."
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Theresa Zhen and Bethany Woolman

Sweatshop Free Stanford Campaign
For those of us who have never met Lupe, María or Maura, it is simple enough to sympathize with the fight and quietly express horror at sweatshop injustices. But when we forgo action we effectively ignore the most pervasive labor violations that exist in the United States.
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Lupita Castañeda

Lupita Castañeda, a factory worker featured in "Maquilapolis" (P.O.V. 2006)
"It was very important to me to see how working at the Center gave every one of them strength and enthusiasm. It gave them joy and happiness. María felt happy as she forgot about her family's problems for a while. Participating in a protest makes Lupe feel important. Maura overcame her shyness to speak in public. It's amazing to see how these women become more and more empowered throughout the movie."
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Shoppers walking past a window of mannequins displaying trendy clothing.

The fashionable clothes sold by retailers like Forever 21 are often made in factories with poor working conditions and by immigrant workers being paid low wages.

More Special Features:
Immigration: Myths vs. Realities
What's Your P.O.V.?

Share your reactions to "Made in L.A." with us: Talk about the film with other viewers or ask the filmmakers a question.

P.O.V. > Made in L.A.: Film Update | Special Features | Behind the Lens | Talking Back
Resources | For Educators | About the Film

Posted August 30, 2007

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