For Immediate Release:

Contact: Mary Lugo (770/623-8190)

ONE OF THE MOST TALKED ABOUT DOCUMENTARIES OF THE YEAR, "SECRETS OF SILICON VALLEY," TO AIR NATIONALLY ON PBS ON SEPTEMBER 14^TH AS PART OF "INDEPENDENT LENS"

An Exploration of the Dark Side of the Silicon Valley Boom, the Film’s Revelations About Labor, Safety, and Access Issues Have Made News Nationwide

"A bracing expose of the "digital divide" that separates Silicon Valley billionaires from the underpaid workers who keep the industry afloat. —Edward Guthmann, SF Chronicle

Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman’s acclaimed SECRETS OF SILICON VALLEY is an eye-opening look at the hidden downsides of the Internet revolution, one that shows the reality underlying the pervasive hype of instant millionaires, unlimited opportunity and boom town prosperity for all. The one-hour documentary, which played to sold-out audiences in Bay Area theaters this summer, will air nationally as part of the PBS series "Independent Lens" on September 14, 2001 at 10PM (check local listings.) SECRETS OF SILICON VALLEY chronicles a tumultuous year in the lives of two young local activists working in separate, but related, sectors of the New Economy, who are both grappling with the rapid but largely ignored social change created by the digital revolution. The film’s revelations have made news across the country, with stories appearing in USA Today, The New York Times, Fortune, Wired and dozens of other publications.

Featured is Magda Escobar who runs Plugged In, a computer training center in East Palo Alto, a low income community just a few miles from the epicenter of high-tech wealth. Silicon Valley's skyrocketing rents and increasing evictions are driving out the people she is supposed to serve, but Magda struggles to find Plugged In a new home. When President Clinton decides to give a major address on the digital divide on Plugged In’s doorstep, Magda gets some much needed attention and the promise of financial help from Hewlett-Packard. We also see Magda work the movers and shakers at the Sandhill Challenge, an ultra-competitive, ego-filled, high-tech soapbox derby in which the Masters of the Tech Universe viciously compete in the name of charity. Says Magda, "Corporate involvement in this area is enlightened self-interest. They understand this is a market to be captured, and they see Plugged In as an investment.... But is that marketing, or is that really philanthropy? What happens when Plugged In is no longer the sexy thing to fund?"

Also featured in the film is Raj Jayadev, a temp worker/activist who confronts the hype of Silicon Valley by exposing an unseen and unacknowledged army of immigrant and minority workers who actually assemble the keyboards and printers we use. Forced out by high rents, many of these workers commute 50 to 100 miles per day. Hired by the world's largest temporary agency, Manpower, Inc., to work in the San Jose Hewlett-Packard assembly plant, Raj is laid off when he organizes other "temps" to challenge the dangerous health and safety conditions in the plant, where respiratory illnesses are rampant. Says Raj, "I actually think there's nothing new about this new economy. Without low-cost manual labor, how could you have the new economy? The temp economy is extremely secretive. These exploits have to remain hidden, because the truth would completely burst this all-boats-floating belief that there is affluence for everybody."

Throughout the film, high tech CEOs and moguls comment on Magda and Raj’s stories with revealing insights on time, technology, greed, and globalization. With the dot.com bubble slowly deflating, SECRETS OF SILICON VALLEY is a timely and unsettling look at how the digital revolution is playing out for the vast majority of Silicon Valley’s residents. You’ll never look at your PC the same way.

For more information, check out www.secretsofsiliconvalley.org. For tapes, interviews and/or art, please call Mary Lugo at 770/623-8190 or email her at fenfam@negia.net.

About the Filmmakers

Alan Snitow--Producer/Director

Alan Snitow was Producer/Director of the feature length documentary film "Blacks and Jews," which premiered at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival and was broadcast nationally on the PBS series "P.O.V." in July 1997. For 16 years, Snitow was a producer at the top-rated KTVU-TV News, the Fox affiliate in the Bay Area. Prior to his work in television news, he was News Director at the Bay Area's Pacifica Radio station KPFA where he won a Corporation for Public Broadcasting Gold Award for Best Local Newscast. He has consulted on scriptwriting for many documentaries and has won numerous awards for film and radio production. SECRETS OF SILICON VALLEY is his second film.

Deborah Kaufman--Producer/Director

Deborah Kaufman was Producer/Director of the award-winning film "Blacks and Jews." She was also Producer/Writer of the nationally broadcast four-part public radio series "Blacks and Jews: Ambivalent Allies." Prior to her production work, she was founding Director of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the first and largest independent Jewish film showcase in the world. She taught "Cinema and the American Jewish Experience" at the University of California, Davis. She has been a board member or consultant to a wide variety of multicultural and media arts organizations, including Bay Area public TV station KQED-TV's "Living Room Festival," and is a current Board member of the California Council for the Humanities. SECRETS OF SILICON VALLEY is her second film.

SECRETS OF SILICON VALLEY

Produced and Directed by: Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman

Edited by: Jennifer Chinlund

Principal Cinematography: Vicente Franco and Marsha Kahm

Principal Sound: Wellington Jon Bowler and Saul Rouda

Music by: Jon Herbst, Open Canvas, and Tibor Szemzo