HOLLAND, Mich. — In December 2021, Cynthia Martinez was awarded an $8,000 grant from the philanthropic organization Women of Color Give to help her complete her documentary First Voice Generation. She was in the post-production phase, finishing the editing and musical score.
Since then, she’s had a baby, remodeled her home and completed the film. Moreover, it’s been featured in film festivals around the country.
“It’s an incredible feeling every time. It’s emotional to know the journey behind the scenes, what that’s been like,” Martinez said during an interview with FOX 17 on Monday, July 31. “Then, to see that people are actually buying a ticket to watch these young people’s stories and the work that’s been behind the scenes, people care.”
Martinez began filming her documentary during the summer of 2020, a few months after the pandemic broke out. It chronicles the lives of three Latino Holland High School students as they navigate through school and the pandemic while trying to become the first in their families to attend college.
“They are children of Mexican immigrants,” Martinez said. “They share their stories and struggle of what it’s like to grow up in this community where sometimes you don’t always feel like you belong.”
Martinez said she knows that feeling. She’s from Holland where growing up in the 1980s and ‘90s she didn't see many people like herself. When she returned during the pandemic, after living and working in New York City, she wanted to give back to the Latino community through storytelling.
“This film is very personal to me,” Martinez said. “Obviously, one of the big things about this film is I wanted to create awareness for students who come from the same background as me. So, that’s one. It’s also a love letter to my younger self.”
Since the film was completed, she’s submitted it into film festivals everywhere, hoping to be selected.
To her surprise, she was.
“We had our premiere screening at Central Michigan University and it was remarkable, incredible, a full-house,” Martinez said with a smile. “There were people standing and that was just an amazing feeling of accomplishment.”
Since then First Voice Generation has been shown in the Capital City Film Festival in Lansing, the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival, and the Mexican American Television and Film Festival in Los Angeles where she won “Best Director.”
This week, Martinez will be showing the documentary at the 29th Annual San Antonio Film Festival.
“It is an honor to get into the film festivals because thousands of people apply. You don’t know who you’re up against,” Martinez said. “And, you don’t know who’s watching or making a decision as to who gets into these [festivals].”
She’s grateful for every acceptance, she said.
Soon, it’ll be shown in Holland at the Knickerbocker, and at Hope College on October 4 at 6 p.m. and October 5 at 6:30 p.m.
“It’s very exciting,” Martinez said. “I’m nervous because I mean it’s my personal work.”
Martinez said she’d like for the film to spur conversations among audiences about the education gap in the U.S. in relation to first-generation students.
Her goal though is for it to be shown in college campuses across the country. So far, Michigan State University, Grand Valley State University, and Ferris State University have either expressed interest in or committed to showing the film at their schools this fall, she said.
“It still is surreal to me. Goodness, I get emotional you saying that,” Martinez said. “It’s amazing and I think that’s great but my bigger goal is for the film to create awareness and impact.”
