Since 1993 more than 320 young
women have been abducted, raped and murdered
in the Mexican border city of
audacity of the killers, authorities have failed to stop the
killings or
jail the murderers. A culture of violence against women reigns in
Seņorita Extraviada is a 70-minute film
that documents the women of
and their struggle
for justice. The film is narrated in English with Spanish
interviews that are
subtitled in English.
Originally, police blamed the murders on
the victims themselves, accusing
them of prostitution or drug abuse. As
victim's families organized to defend
their daughters and demand justice, the
cops desperately arrested and
tortured suspects until they confessed, but the
murders continued. Most
alarmingly, the account of one female survivor
was never investigated. The
film is also a disturbing portrait of
Future" and home to 500 enormous assembly plants,
these plants,
Mexican workers toil away 12-hour shifts in well-kept,
US-owned factories for
$4-8 a day. After shift, workers return to
shantytowns of sewage,
danger and squalor. Families with three full time
wage earners can't afford
decent housing. Seņorita Extraviada
gives voice to the victim's families and
lo
corrupt
police. The film raises important questions about an economic
system
that devalues women's work and women's lives.
"With over 270 girls raped
and murdered and another 450 reported missing, we
felt we had to investigate
these disappearances and attacks," explains
director Lourdes Portillo,
"attacks specifi
brown, unprotected, poor women. We had all these different pieces of
the
puzzle, all these various elements, that just didn't fit together, and
the
most surprising thing was the silence."
This event is co-sponsored
by the Mexico Solidarity Network and ....
Jessica Marques, the west coast
coordinator for the
Network, will introduce the film and lead a discussion and
question/answer
period afterward.
