"[W]e saw that the stories were always about men, so it occurred to us to make something that would also tell stories about women." |
In March of this year, producers Marcela Morán and Maritza Bautista screened their documentary short Jornaleras [Women Workers] to students at the Autonomous University of Tamaulipas in Mexico with the cooperation of the U.S. General Consulate in Nuevo Laredo. They began their filmmaking journey on Jornaleras in 2010 as they traveled through Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and New Orleans as well as parts of Texas in search of undocumented immigrant women who had experienced being criminalized and having their rights violated. Documenting their experiences allowed Morán and Bautista to expose the problems facing specifically undocumented women immigrants.
About the film, Morán states, “What motivated us was that we had already worked with migrants, earlier I had made documentaries about these subjects, one of them was about the 'Casa del Migrante' [Migrant House], one of the other Migrant Houses in Guatemala. We already knew a lot about the subject and we saw that the stories were always about men, so it occurred to us to make something that would also tell stories about women." (excerpted from El Manana and translated)
It was through the women's willingness to share their powerful stories that Moran and Bautista's understanding of the issue grew ever deeper.
“It is the first project in which we focus on the woman. Now that we’ve finished it, we’re going to keep on. We’ve thought about something here along the border that we called 'Women Have a Voice' which will be a photography project and, we hope, also video, simply because the theme of women is not given any notice and no one speaks of them,” commented Martiza Bautista. (excerpted from El Manana and translated)
Morán is a producer, director and editor as well as a film scholar. She is currently Associate Professor of Communication at Texas A&M University. Bautista served as cinematographer and producer on the film. Jornaleras screened in April at the Cine Las Americas International Film Festival in Texas and at a festival in Ohio.
About the film, Morán states, “What motivated us was that we had already worked with migrants, earlier I had made documentaries about these subjects, one of them was about the 'Casa del Migrante' [Migrant House], one of the other Migrant Houses in Guatemala. We already knew a lot about the subject and we saw that the stories were always about men, so it occurred to us to make something that would also tell stories about women." (excerpted from El Manana and translated)
It was through the women's willingness to share their powerful stories that Moran and Bautista's understanding of the issue grew ever deeper.
“It is the first project in which we focus on the woman. Now that we’ve finished it, we’re going to keep on. We’ve thought about something here along the border that we called 'Women Have a Voice' which will be a photography project and, we hope, also video, simply because the theme of women is not given any notice and no one speaks of them,” commented Martiza Bautista. (excerpted from El Manana and translated)
Morán is a producer, director and editor as well as a film scholar. She is currently Associate Professor of Communication at Texas A&M University. Bautista served as cinematographer and producer on the film. Jornaleras screened in April at the Cine Las Americas International Film Festival in Texas and at a festival in Ohio.
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