2014, United States, 68’
Dir. Cristina Ibarra
English, Turkish subtitles
The New York Times called Las Marthas "A striking alternative portrait of border-town life." Directed by Cristina Ibarra, Las Marthas follows two young women as they prepare for an elaborate rite of passage: the annual debutante ball in Laredo, Texas. Larita is a 13th-generation debutante descended from Laredo's original Spanish land grantees who questions debutante society's class system geared towards girls like herself. Rosario is a high-achieving, U.S.-schooled outsider from across the border in Nuevo Laredo who struggles to understand the elite society's unspoken rules. Las Marthas has been shown on public television in the United States at a time of political tension over immigration and difficult border relations between the U.S. and Mexico.
(Photos courtesy of Women Make Movies.)
