Latino Banquet Saturday features 'Bordertown' heroine

BU's office of multicultural affairs will host a banquet in celebration of Latino Heritage Month. "Latino Extravaganza" will feature keynote speaker Barbara Martinez Jitner, one of the first Latina executive producers of a primetime network television series. The banquet will be held on Saturday, October 4, in the Kehr Union Ballroom. Doors will open at 5 p.m. Tickets are $10 for BU students, $15 for non-BU students, faculty, staff and community. Tickets must be purchased in advance at the Multicultural Affairs office, in the Kehr Union, room 229.

Jitner's Emmy-nominated "American Family" made history when it debuted in 2002 as the first Latino drama on broadcast television.

The real life hero of Jennifer Lopez's film, "Bordertown," Jitner posed as a factory worker on the U.S./Mexico border in order to uncover a dark world of grueling poverty and sexual abuse that leads to murder. The film was inspired by Martinez Jitner's critically acclaimed documentary, La Frontera.

Martinez Jitner is also the first Latina to be nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Emmy as an executive producer/writer/director for a miniseries. She is currently slated to produce and write the HBO miniseries, "Rain of Gold," adapted from Victor Villasenor's original text.