Catherine Tambini

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, P.O.V. presents Farmingville, a provocative, complex, and emotionally charged look into the ongoing nationwide controversy surrounding a suburban community, its ever-expanding population of illegal immigrants, and the shockingly hate-based attempted murders of two Mexican day laborers. In the late 1990s, some 1,500 Mexican workers moved to the leafy, middle-class town of Farmingville, population 15,000. In some ways, it is a familiar American story: an influx of illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico to do work the locals won't; rising tensions with the Anglo population; charges and counter-charges of lawlessness and racism; protest marches, unity rallies and internet campaigns--then vicious hate crimes that tear the community apart. But this isn't the story of a California, Texas or other Southwestern city. It's the endlessly enthralling tale of Farmingville, New York, on Long Island. Sharply and intimately directed by Catherine Tambini and Carlos Sandoval, who moved to Farmingville after the tumultuous clash catapulted the town into national headlines, Farmingville is an astounding glimpse into an issue that continues to anger, frighten and confuse us.

Lucy Chadman (Shelley Long) chokes to death and is resurrected by her loopy sister Zelda (Judith Ivey) on the one year anniversary of her death. Lucy, of course, does not believe she has actually been dead and thinks it is an elaborate hoax until she goes to her apartment and discovers her husband (Corbin Bernsen) married to her gold digging best friend, Kim (Sela Ward). Meanwhile, Lucy becomes a medical phenomenon and starts dating her hot doctor, Kevin (Gabriel Byrne). Kim, meanwhile, becomes jealous of all the attention that Lucy is garnering, especially from her husband and claims that Lucy faked her death in order to gain attention. Lucy, along with Zelda and Kim's stepson Junior (Austin Pendleton) plot to get Kim to tell the truth and regain Lucy's stature back in society.

Until the fateful day she choked to death, Lucy Chadman had been a sweet, klutzy, suburban housewife. Although her husband aspired to join Manhattan's smart set, Lucy's life was "deathly" dull ... but her after-life is a different story.

Until the fateful day she choked to death, Lucy Chadman had been a sweet, klutzy, suburban housewife. Although her husband aspired to join Manhattan's smart set, Lucy's life was 'deathly' dull ... but her after-life is a different story.