Filed under: LA Woman Kudos to J. Lo, Antonio Banderas and their director Gregory Nava for making "Bordertown', a feature film that finally investigates the horrific murders of hundreds of girls and young women in Juarez, Mexico. The film premieres this week at the Berlin Film Festival and hopefully the collective star power of Banderas and Lopez will help get this film a U.S. distributor....which won't be easy considering the cast and director received numerous death threats during production.Last August the PBS show "P.O.V." ran
Lourdes Portillo's documentary "Seorita Extraviada" a harrowing portrait of sadism which explained in detail the nightmare that is occuring right next door to us in the border town of Juarez. I don't think I've ever been more sickened in my life - not only by the crimes but the U.S. apathy (considering many of the murdered girls are workers in U.S. factories south of the border). The video above is from the MadMedia/RESET production "POCHO/A" and features spoken word performer Amalia Ortiz who explains it all for you. What in the hell can we do to stop these murders - besides watching movies about themFrom the L.A. Times:When they began shooting "Bordertown," the new Jennifer Lopez film
about the hundreds of murdered women of Ciudad Jurez, Mexico, director
Gregory Nava and executive producer Barbara Martinez Jitner expected
that their movie would stir up strong reactions. Already, they allege,
those reactions have included death threats against Nava and the cast,
stolen equipment and intimidation of a film crew member during shooting
in Mexico.Since
1993, the bodies of more than 400 female victims, many raped and
mutilated, have been found in the area around Ciudad Jurez, a
sprawling metropolis where many poor women work for maquiladoras
(factories). Scores of additional women throughout the region, across
the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, have been reported missing.Speaking by phone recently while en route to the Berlin Film Festival,
where the film will have its world premiere Thursday, Nava said he's
not surprised by the film's hostile reception in some quarters, given
the issues that "Bordertown" raises and the blame for the murders that
it assigns not only to the Mexican government but to the United States
and to the multinational assembly plants spawned by the North American
Free Trade Agreement."There
are very powerful forces involved, you're going to be attacked," said
Nava, a Mexican American who was born in San Diego. "I expect the
Mexican government to get very upset about it."........."I felt it was really something that was screaming to be
talked about and brought to the surface," said Lopez, speaking by phone
from Madrid. "What we hope to do with the movie is just getting people
aware of what's going on down there. Permalink|Email this|Comments
