If you grew up with Maria on Sesame Street, you already know Sonia Manzano (movies and tv series) didn't just play a character - she held the door open for a lot of kids who needed to see themselves on TV. It honestly feels wild that no one (movies and tv series) made a documentary about her until now.
Enter filmmaker Ernie Bustamante. His feature, Street Smart: Lessons From a TV Icon, just bowed at DOC NYC and sets out to capture Manzano's full arc - from a Nuyorican kid in the South Bronx to a TV mainstay and creator who's still shaping how children see the world. It's intimate, specific, and yes, packed with the kind of behind-the-scenes moments people ask about years later.
The doc that started as a series pitch
Bustamante didn't set out to make a film. He read Manzano's memoir, Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx, and thought it had the bones of a live-action coming-of-age show - something like Everybody Hates Chris, but with Sonia's voice.
They pitched it around town for years. Took calls. Met execs who loved Sonia, cried on Zoom even… and still passed. Then the pandemic hit. Bustamante read the room and pivoted to a documentary. Three-plus years after his first on-camera sit-down with Manzano, Street Smart is out in the world.
"Working with Sonia on the TV project, we would be on calls with network executives, studio executives and producers, and they always loved to meet Sonia," he says. "I remember one time a studio executive cried during our Zoom. She didn't buy [our show], but… I remembered the stories that Sonia had told at Q&As."
Children's show energy, adult lessons
The film blends fresh interviews with archival footage - plus original animation and staged dramatizations. That mix isn't a style flex as much as a practical choice.
"I wasn't raised at a time when people took photos," Manzano says. "We had one little Brownie [camera]… and then we'd forget to get them developed."
So Bustamante leaned in. "I wanted the viewer to feel as if they were watching a children's show but with adult lessons," he says. "And I've always maintained that Sonia's moments in the memoir deserve dramatization."
Where the film's been - and where it could land
The doc has been making the rounds: Bentonville, Oak Cliff, CineFest Latino, a Comic-Con sneak, and an upcoming Doc Soup stop in Toronto. There's no wide-release plan yet, but Bustamante says PBS would be a perfect home.
"I think that would speak to not just the mission of the film but to Sonia's lifelong mission, which has been the education of young people."
Maria at 22, learning the job in real time
Manzano was just 22 when she read for Sesame Street. The character description for "Maria" wasn't great; the producers told her to be herself. Easier said than done.
"It's very hard to be yourself," she says. "I thought I was coming across sappy when I wanted to have street cred… I competed with the puppets, which is ridiculous. But when I realized that I was a straight man and they were the comics and all I had to do was set up the joke, that's when I understood what my job was."
Representation you can point to
Manzano remembers the hush of watching TV as a kid and rarely seeing anyone who looked like her. When someone did show up - even as a token gardener on Father Knows Best - neighbors cheered. That absence sticks to you.
"I couldn't articulate it, but I did feel invisible," she says. "So when I had the opportunity to be on TV, I remembered that feeling and thought about how I wanted to remedy it."
On set, writer-producer Matt Robinson (movies and tv series) pulled her aside with a gentle nudge: she wasn't there just to look Puerto Rican on screen; she could shape what the show showed. She tested that idea immediately. A fruit cart had apples and oranges. She asked to see the fruit she grew up with. The next day: papayas and coconuts. Small change, big signal. She kept pushing, eventually writing for the show as well as acting on it.
Why this story matters now
Maybe you already feel the impact of Manzano's work - the kids (movies and tv series) who saw themselves, the adults who grew up with her voice in their living rooms. Manzano doesn't call herself a trailblazer, but she knows something real happened.
"I know that I've affected people… But then I think about how powerful television is, that a device like that can touch people on so many levels."
What's next for Manzano
She's deep into season three of her PBS Kids series Alma's Way, slated for 2026. Expect episodes about Black cowboys, celebrating different hair textures, and an honest look at grief.
As for what comes after? She's careful. Public media funding is a moving target. "We're just happy to have a third season, and we're wondering what's going to happen next."
If you cover docs and TV, here's the quick hit
- Title: Street Smart: Lessons From a TV Icon
- Subject: Sonia Manzano (Maria from Sesame Street; author; creator of Alma's Way)
- Director: Ernie Bustamante
- Form: Hybrid doc with interviews, archival, animation, and re-creations
- Festival stops: DOC NYC, Bentonville, Oak Cliff, CineFest Latino; Doc Soup Toronto upcoming
- Distribution: No wide-release announced; PBS broadcast desired
For a sense of how it plays, check the official site and festival materials here: Street Smart: Lessons From a TV Icon and the DOC NYC premiere clip. And maybe hold space for the obvious: this is a story that should've been on screen a long time ago. Better late than never.
