In November 2020, 32 million Latino people — the largest nonwhite voting bloc in US history — will be eligible to vote for president.

Historically called a “sleeping giant” that eschewed campaigns and voting, this ethnic group is poised to awaken, said Bernardo Ruiz, director-producer-writer of Latino Vote: Dispatches from the Battleground, part of Latino Public Broadcasting’s VOCES arts and culture documentary showcase. The film will air on GBH 2 on October 6 at 9pm ET.

Ruiz is a two-time Emmy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker who directed and produced American Experience’s Roberto Clemente, the story of the Puerto Rican baseball great who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

With an American mother and a Mexican father, Ruiz grew up in Guanajuato, Mexico, and Brooklyn, NY. His life and filming sensibilities have been shaped by immigrants’ experiences.

Ruiz said his aim is to highlight the diversity of Latino voters, which he expects may surprise some viewers.

““No one has a lock on the Latino vote,” he says. “Latino voters have a wide range of political perspectives — the population is not at all a monolith.”

The film follows grassroots organizers, religious leaders and activists who are working to increase Latino voter turnout in the battleground states of Nevada, Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania. The voters he encounters run the gamut—left-leaning Democrats as well as Latino evangelicals, many of whom support President Donald Trump.

“I was eager to bring journalism to the screen that doesn’t rely on correspondents or pundits but instead focuses directly on the Latino organizers and voters who may very well determine the nation’s political future,” said Ruiz.

He describes his style of filmmaking as “verité documentary,” featuring close-up, personal interviews with people whose worldviews sometimes compete with each other. “That lets viewers come to their own conclusions.”

Ruiz said he hopes the film will enhance Americans’ understanding of Latino people in the run-up to the November election and beyond. “As a country, we need to have a much more nuanced and detailed understanding about who and what the Latino electorate is.”