Dan Banda isn't just a filmmaker. He's an educator who is using his film skills to help tell one of America's stories.

Banda, a Milwaukee native, and his production company Bandana Productions, is producing a three-part documentary series which chronicles the Mexican immigrant experience in 20th Century United States. The first two installments of the series were produced in cooperation with Wisconsin Public Television, aired nationally on PBS and won Emmy awards. Together with the third part, which is in the production stages, the series is designed to be an educational package.

"Teachers can use the documentary series to present the Mexican experience as another chapter in the American story," said Banda, 44. "There is an enormous void in curriculum that needs to be filled."

Banda was born and raised on Milwaukee's north side, and growing up watching Disney movies, nature documentaries and travel shows whet his appetite for filmmaking. As a kid he visited local television stations out of curiosity about what journalists did, and that turned him on to journalism.

He graduated from Milwaukee Lutheran High School in 1975, and in 1976 entered the world of radio when he got a summer job at WOKY. That began a 12-year career that took Banda around the country for jobs from overnight disc jockey to general manager. In 1988 he ended up back where he started, taking a job as operations manager at WOKY.

All the while, Banda held on to his dream of doing documentaries. He built up a profile writing and producing industrial videos for companies, and in 1993 the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America asked him to produce a television program in Florida. During that time Banda rubbed shoulders with some PBS folks who introduced him to Wisconsin Public Television higher-ups. After Banda produced a program about stress for them, officials made a commitment to his next project, which would become the first installment of his award-winning documentary experience.

"Mountain's Mist and Mexico" tells the story of Banda's grandparents and their experiences as immigrants to the U.S. It aired in Wisconsin in 1995, and PBS broadcast it nationally in 1996.