We are so excited to announce that we have begun working on our documentary about four longtime Chicana feminist activists at the forefront of immigration rights organizing here in Southern Arizona: Isabel Garcia, Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith, Guadalupe Castillo, and Margo Cowan.
Garcia, Rubio-Goldsmith, Castillo and Cowen first worked together in the early 1970s on the Manzo Area Council, a war on poverty program begun by President Johnson, and became known as Las Mujeres de Manzo. In the ’80s the group was the lone voice identifying and opposing the militarization of the border. They went on to shape many other humanitarian relief groups including Coalición de Derechos Humanos and No More Deaths, and to be actively involved in the Sanctuary Movement. Their collective efforts have given rise to many of the international human rights activities in our region and beyond as their work has had national and international implications. They are currently spearheading the Justice for All campaign for a ballot initiative that would provide public defense attorneys for people facing charges in Pima County’s Immigration Court.
The film will interweave interviews and archival material with observational footage of the JFA campaign to be filmed over the next two years. This is an urgent moment to make a film on the long history of border activism, sanctuary, detention/deportation, and human rights.
(image: Margo and Isabel after DocScapes screening of RICOCHET. https://docscapes.org/ricochet/ Post-film discussion included Francisco Ugarte, leader of the the Immigration Defense Unit at the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, along with filmmaker Chihiro Wimbush.)
Las Mujeres de Manzo 