Southwest of Salem Lesbian Latinas Fight for Justice
Winner of a Peabody Award, a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Documentary, and a Critic's Choice Award for Best First Feature, SOUTHWEST OF SALEM excavates the nightmarish persecution of Elizabeth Ramirez, Cassandra Rivera, Kristie Mayhugh, and Anna Vasquez, four Latina lesbians wrongfully convicted of gang-raping two little girls in San Antonio, Texas.
Using the women's home video footage from 21 years ago combined with recent verite footage and interviews, the film explores their personal narratives and their search for exculpatory evidence.
Together with attorneys, the film culminates with the women being released from prison to await their searing new exoneration hearings in San Antonio. As lesbian women of color, these women hold intersecting identities that make them the most vulnerable to incarceration. The film unravels the interplay of mythology, homophobia, and prosecutorial fervor that led to their indictment.
SOUTHWEST OF SALEM premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was an Official Selection at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.
Running Time
92 mins
Year
2016
Kanopy ID
2437178
Filmmakers
Features
Languages
Subjects
Show More
Related videos
The Same Difference - Gender Roles in the Black Lesbian Community
A compelling documentary about lesbians who discriminate against other lesbians based on gender roles. Director Nneka Onuorah takes an in-depth look at the internalized hetero-normative gender roles that have become all too familiar within the African American lesbian and bisexual community.
This film features many queer celebrities, including actress Felicia…
Out & Around - On the Not-So-Straight Journey Towards Equality
When Jennifer Chang and Lisa Dazols first fell in love, they vowed to follow a life of adventure. The couple had no idea that their promise would lead them to leave their 9-5 jobs, pick up a video camera, and travel to fifteen countries through Asia, Africa and South America…
Mezzo - The Story of an Openly Trans Opera Singer
A short documentary that celebrates the life and artistic endeavors of Breanna Sinclaire, an African American opera singer and openly trans woman, while reflecting back on memories of her childhood self-discovery.
Mind/Game: The Unquiet Journey of Chamique Holdsclaw
A 3-time NCAA champ and No.1 WNBA draft pick known as the "female Michael Jordan," Chamique Holdsclaw was destined for a spectacular professional career until her long-suppressed battle with mental illness threatened to derail her life.
Mind/Game intimately chronicles Holdsclaw's athletic accomplishments and dramatic personal setbacks, and her decision--despite public…
A Chance to Dress - The Complexity of Gender Expression
A Chance To Dress explores the complexity of gender expression through the story of MIT Professor Emeritus and open cross dresser Dr. John "Tephra" Southard.
The film follows the difficulties in coming out to his friends, neighbors and colleagues, but also his sense of liberation after a lifetime of secrecy.…
Choosing Children - Launching the Lesbian Baby Boom
Being a lesbian no longer means giving up motherhood, thanks in part to the culture-changing impact of this feminist classic. These pioneering lesbian mothers figured out how to bring children into their families while overcoming social and legal hurdles
Hailed as a pioneering achievement when it was first released in…
Boy I Am - Exploring Female-to-Male Transgender Experiences
An important exploration of issues rarely touched upon by most films portraying female-to-male (FTM) transgender experiences, this feature-length documentary sets itself apart from other recent films on this topic. Tackling the resistance of some women in feminists and lesbian communities who view FTM transitioning as at best a "trend" or…
Ask Not: Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Homosexuality is the last target of official discrimination in the U.S. armed forces. When President Bill Clinton took office in 1993, his campaign pledge to lift the ban on gays serving openly in the military became a heated issue, with military leaders, Christian fundamentalists and conservative Congress members expressing vehement…
The Year We Thought About Love - Behind the Scenes of Queer Youth Theater
What happens when LGBTQ youth decide to create a play about queer love to tour to area high schools? The Hollywood Reporter writes that the play "shocks, entertains, and awes!" Our award-winning film reveals how the "powers of art elicit the most interactive, educational, funny, vibrant, experiential illustrations of real…
Ballot Measure 9 - A Long Struggle for LGBT Rights
"A far-ranging expose of hate politics that crosses lines of race, religion and sexual identity." - B. Ruby Rich
BALLOT MEASURE 9 is the chilling true story of the unprecedented violence unleashed by an anti-gay campaign in Oregon, when activists slept with guns under their beds and had full-time police…
Agnes Martin - Before the Grid - The Life & Work of an Abstract Expressionist Painter
Agnes Martin is one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. Before she died in 2004 at the age of ninety-two, her paintings sold for millions of dollars and were displayed in the world's greatest museums.
Through interviews with friends, lovers and classmates who knew her well, insight…
States of Grace - An Inspiring Journey of Resilience, and Renewal
Winner of multiple audience awards, States of Grace intimately captures the profound transformation of a revered physician and her family in the wake of a life-changing accident. For Dr. Grace Dammann, a pioneering AIDS specialist who was honored by the Dalai Lama, a routine commute across the Golden Gate Bridge…