Living in America

Living in America: One Hundred Years of Ybor City, is a documentary portrait of Tampa's historic Latino community filmed as Ybor reached its 100th birthday. Ybor's history is recounted by the people who helped shape it — cigar makers and cigar factory owners, coffee roasters, Cuban breadmakers, Cuban sandwich makers and others whose personal histories recall a vibrant barrio of mutual aid clubs, dances, hard work, close knit extended families...and FOOD.

The film was produced, written and directed by Gayla Jamison for Lightfoot Films, Inc. Director of Photography, Bob Gilbert, and Sound Recordist/Editor, Nancy Yasecko, are both graduates of the USF art department.

The film received awards at the American Film and Video Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, San Antonio CineFestival, CINE and the National Educational Film Festival. It was aired on PBS and The Learning Channel in the "New to America" series hosted by James Edward Olmos.

Living in America was selected by National Video Resources for Viewing Race, a resource guide of independent films about diversity and tolerance for public libraries and community groups nationwide.

Lightfoot Films

Lightfoot Films, Inc. was formed in 1981 to produce social issue, cultural, and human rights documentaries. The company's special interests are women's issues and Latin America, produced in Spanish as well as English. The group also has worked in Asia and Africa.

Lightfoot's films seek the common ground shared by the human community and celebrate the differences that make us unique. Lightfoot productions have aired on PBS, The Learning Channel, Hallmark Channel, Odyssey Channel, ABC and NBC, as well as the Soviet Union State Network and Brandenburg Television Network.

Lightfoot has been screened and received awards at festivals such as the London Latin American Film Festival, Amnesty International Film Festival, USA Film Festival, Havana Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Athens International Film and Video Festival, and Women of the Americas Festival.

You can learn more about Lightfoot Films, Inc. at their website, LightfootFilms.org.

Taste of Sandwiche Cubano Food Fest

When: 11:00am - 4:00pm, Saturday August 18, 2012
Where: Hillsborough Community College-Ybor Campus, 2204 N. 15th Street Tampa, FL 33605
(moved from Cuban Club)
Ticket: free admission, $ for food

Food fest featuring traditional Tampa cuisine, including an attempt to create the world's longest Cuban Sandwich, besting Miami's 30-foot long record set in December 2011, winners of the Cuban Sandwich Festival held in Ybor in May, and Cuban sandwiches from numerous local restaurants; plus roast pork, deviled crabs, empanadas, flan.

Rooster Promenade and BBQ!

When: 6:00pm Sunday August 19, 2012
Where: Big Al's Finger Licking Good BBQ, 1609 18th Street, Gaspar's Grotto, 1805 E. 7th Avenue, Dirty Shame, 1929 E. 7th Avenue, all in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida
Ticket: Free admission; $ for food

Lots of BBQ and drinks, live music, and a costumed Rooster Promenade parade open to everybody: children, dogs, pirates, hipsters, and, of course, fowl of all feathers.