Maria in Nobody's Land

A film by Marcela Zamora Chamorro

El Salvador/Mexico | 2010 | 86 minutes | Color | DVD | Spanish | Subtitled | Order No. 131090

MARIA IN NOBODY'S LAND is an unprecedented and intimate look at the illegal and extremely dangerous journey of three Salvadoran women to the US.

SYNOPSIS

MARIA IN NOBODY'S LAND is an unprecedented and intimate look at the illegal and extremely dangerous journey of three Salvadoran women to the US. Doña Inés, a 60 year old woman, has been looking for her daughter for five years and is following the same route her daughter took. Marta and Sandra, tired of the violence from their husbands and wanting to overcome poverty, decide to leave their families behind to travel to America - with only thirty dollars in their pockets. During their harrowing journey, the three women encounter prostitution, slave trade, rape, kidnapping and even death, in an unwavering quest for a better life.

In making this documentary, a team of six journalists and filmographers rode with migrants on the tops of trains and slept in migrant shelters. As the immigration debate continues to be a hot button issue, this film, which helps to bring understanding to these urgent issues, is essential for courses on human rights, Latin American studies, Chicano studies, immigration, labor, international studies and women's studies, as well as for public libraries and interested community groups.

PRESS

“An impressive documentary that shows how the gangs the police and even the local government collaborate to take any advantage from the migrant's situation. And it suggests that Mexican and Central American governments also have interests to leave the situation unchanged."

Latino Barrio

"These heart-wrenching stories shed light on the thousands of kidnappings, sexual abuse, human trafficking, and torture suffered by migrants who travel across Mexico each year with the hopes of reaching a brighter future in the United States."

UCLA International Institute

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

  • Festival Internacional de Cine en Derechos Humanos, Argentina, Jury Prize and Audience Award for Best Documentary
  • ICARO, Best Central American Feature Documentary
  • Ambulante Film Festival
  • Latin American London Film Festival
  • International Film Festival of Goa
  • Cinemigrante
  • Festival Internacional de Cine El Rosario
  • Seattle Latino Film Festival
  • Cinesul

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Marcela Zamora Chamorro

Marcela studied Journalism in Costa Rica and then graduated as Documentary Filmmaker at the Film School of San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. For more than 12 years, she has been making documentaries focused on gender and human rights, in total 4 feature films and 10 short documentary films seen throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa. She has worked in television for Al Jazeera and Tele Sur. She currently directs the documentary section of the Salvadorian digital newspaper El Faro. (10/15)

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