A Thousand Pines, a co-production with ITVS and Latino Public Broadcasting, is continuing its festival run, following acclaimed screenings at numerous film festivals.

Directed by Noam Osband and Sebastián Díaz, “A Thousand Pines is set in the beautiful and sometimes unforgiving landscape of the United States’ national forests. The first documentary to tell the story of workers in the US timber industry follows Raymundo Morales, the foreman of a crew of migrant workers from Oaxaca, Mexico, who depend on the controversial guest worker visa program. Filmed over the course of a year, between their hometown and the US, they must make the decision every year if they will leave their families in rural Mexico, or if they will return for another eight-month season of planting commercial pine forests.

The documentary follows the crew for a year, during an entire season of planting and their short time back home with their families. They struggle to balance the job’s physical demands and its extreme isolation while remaining connected to their families back home. As the season progresses, they become a small family, cooking and caring for each other in order to endure the punishing work.

Raymundo is in his 20th season working for the largest reforestation company in the US. When he began, he was single and had few responsibilities. Now, however, he must balance his obligations to his wife, his children, and his elderly mother with a heart condition, while also tending to the needs and emergencies of the planting crew. For Raymundo, who spends a few months at home during the off-season, his job is both the family’s salvation and its heartbreak.”

Confirmed film festivals:
Alameda International Film Festival, Alameda, CA: February 22-25, 2024
Ocean City Film Festival, Ocean City, MD: March 7-10, 2024
San Diego Latino Film Festival, San Diego, CA: March 14-24, 2024
Houston Latino Film Festival, Houston, TX: March 20-24, 2024

The film will have its broadcast premiere on April 1, 2024, on PBS‘s acclaimed series Independent Lens.