The annual Femme Frontera Filmmaker Showcase will be an all-day “minifest” this year on Saturday, August 10 at the Plaza Theatre’s Philanthropy Theatre in downtown El Paso. Scott Brocato spoke with two of Femme Frontera’s co-directors, filmmakers Ryan Rox and Jackie Barragan, about what to expect at the upcoming Minifest.
Scott Brocato:
For those who aren't familiar with the Femme Frontera Film Festival, Jackie, tell us what it's about.
Jackie Barragan:
So this film festival, also known as the Femme Frontera Filmmaker Showcase, kicked off eight years ago, going on nine this year in El Paso, TX., when Angie Torres had come out with a film and she wanted to bring other women and gender-expansive filmmakers together. And so they premiered it in El Paso and it caught on, and people really wanted to see more of that content. And so they got organized, and it continued to happen every year. And we're going on the 9th annual Filmmaker Showcase, but this year, we decided to postpone it. Usually it's in the fall, and we're moving it to March. In place of that, we're having another event called the MiniFest.
Scott Brocato:
So why did you decide to move it?
Ryan Rox:
We feel like our community in El Paso and Las Cruces and Juarez has come out every year around this time and expect us to have a big event. And with our postponement, we didn't want folks to think that we are gone by any means, and so we want to have a presence in the community around this time. And so we thought it would be nice to have at least a day of programming and do things that we wanted to do for a while and in a different capacity. So yeah, that's how the MiniFest was born.
Scott Brocato:
So give us some of the highlights of this year's MiniFest.
Ryan Rox:
So we're kicking off the day at 10:00 AM with actually my feature film, “Hidden Flora”--yes, I am a film maker as well. (laughs) But yeah, we're showing my film; my main actor Lucas Silver is coming down from Albuquerque; and we have a Q&A moderated by Aitch Alberto, who is the director of “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe”, which takes place in El Paso. And so it's really cool that she's coming out for that.
And then the next thing that we have right after that is our trans panel. And so that's TRANScending Borders: Moving Beyond Identity, which will be a panel discussion with five amazing trans+ filmmakers, who have different backgrounds and experiences, and we're all just going to come together and talk about how we got to where we are in the film industry and as people.
Scott Brocato:
Well, let's talk about "Hidden Flora” for a second. You've already premiered it here at the NMSU Art Museum as part of the Feminist Border Arts Film Festival. What has been the reception since then?
Ryan Rox:
It's been so great. That particular screen was so beautiful, because it was coming home with it, and a bunch of people here obviously can relate to the story that takes place in Las Cruces. And so it was really nice. The reception was amazing and people were very nice about coming up to me afterwards and telling me how much they liked it.
So it follows Roxi, a queer, hopeless romantic who is just looking for love like the rest of us in all the wrong places. And so a string of boys and men define their idea of sex and identity in the late-oughts in our town of Las Cruces.
Scott Brocato:
Another feature film that's going to be screened that evening is called "Hummingbirds”. Jackie, tell us about "Hummingbirds”.
Jackie Barragan:
Yeah, we're really excited about this film. It's also made by two women and gender- expansive filmmakers based out of Laredo, so another portion of the bordertown. And it's a documentary about these two best friends, and it's just a very beautiful story seeing their relationship while one of them is actually being challenged with trying to gain citizenship for their family. And they're both going to be here, which where that film has received enormous good response and it's traveled all over, and we're just so happy to connect with them in El Paso, another part of the border. They'll have a Q&A afterwards and people will be able to ask questions. And one of the filmmakers is actually going to sit on the trans panel, too, that Ryan was just discussing.
Scott Brocato:
And what have been some of the challenges for both of you being co-directors (of Femme Frontera)?
Jackie Barragan:
It's been, you know, challenging and a pretty amazing growing experience. I think Ryan and I, you know, a lot of the skills that we had were pulled out of us, leadership skills. And we have a third co-director whose name is Mariana Gongora, and she's originally from Chihuahua, lived in Las Cruces for a while, and is now pursuing her masters in documentary filmmaking in Argentina. And so we're in communication with all three of us, pushing Femme Frontera forward, making sure all our programs are continuing to go, and just really making sure that the legacy of Femme Frontera continues to serve the people that it's supposed to serve.
Scott Brocato:
And about how many films did you have to sift through, and I guess what you'll still be sifting through for next March?
Jackie Barragan:
Our film submissions are open for anyone who's listening that are women or gender- expansive filmmakers. We are accepting submissions on our film freeway. And that is open to--it's globally open. So we’ve previously in past showcases had films from Spain and Colombia and all over the place. Last year for our showcase, we sifted through about 100 films to bring it down to a curation of about seven or eight films.
For our MiniFest happening in August--I don't know, I felt like it was a really good opportunity to highlight one of our own, Ryan Rox, to share their story and to uplift them. And like she has...she's kind of like a beautiful example of what Femme Frontera’s services do. She started off with the filmmaking grant, and then she got hired, and now she's pushing this feature film. And we wanted to highlight that.
And then "Hummingbirds”, you know, Ryan had talked about how she had seen it. And she's like, “you need to see it, I think it's a good choice”. And so once I saw it, we just, we didn't have to go through a whole bunch of feature films to decide. We’re like, these are the two films we want.
The other part of it that I think is important: we have Ryan's film, the panel, and then "Hummingbirds” in the evening. But we are also going to have a sneak preview of our Border Lab film. Every two years we give a grant to two filmmakers, one on either side of the border, and they come together to create a documentary, usually about some kind of border issue. And so at this MiniFest on August 10th, we'll be able to see a sneak preview of that.
Scott Brocato:
And what time will that be?
Ryan Rox:
That will be at four, and the film makers will both be there as well as the La Frontera film lab coordinators Vicki Ponce and Mariana will be coming down from Argentina. So that's really exciting.
Scott Brocato:
So it's an all-day thing. It's the MiniFest August 10th at the Philanthropy Theater inside the Plaza Theater downtown El Paso.
Ryan Rox:
And most of it is free! The films are only 5 bucks, but everything else is free.
Scott Brocato:
That's a bargain. Thank you for speaking with KRWG Public Media.
Ryan Rox and Jackie Barragan:
Thanks for having us. We appreciate it.
