FRI, SEP 10, 2021, 7:30pm

The Loft Cinema

In Person: Followed by Q&A with Co-director/Producer Lisa Molomot and Editor/Producer Jacob Bricca, along with a panel of immigration policy experts

Co-presented by UA School of Sociology, School of Theatre, Film & Television, Binational Migration Institute, Hanson Film Institute, College of Fine Arts

Missing in Brooks County follows the stories of two families searching for their loved ones who went missing in the fields of Brooks County, Texas after crossing into the U.S. from Mexico. On their search they meet vigilante ranchers, human smugglers, humanitarian activists, and Border Patrol agents, all of whom are locked in a proxy version of the national immigration debate. They also discover a sobering truth: the deadliest part of the journey was far from the border. A gripping investigative documentary, Missing in Brooks County is also a deeply humane portrait of the human rights workers, activists, and law enforcement agents who confront the life-and-death consequences of a broken immigration system.

Awards

Best Southern Feature • Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
Best Documentary Feature • Doc Boston Film Festival
Best Documentary Feature • Ashland Ind. Film Festival
Best Documentary Feature • San Luis Obispo Int. Film Festival
Best Documentary Feature • Thin Line Festival

Reviews

“One of the most nuanced and disturbing…films about the immigration crisis.”
– Boston Globe

“A crucial, empathetic and humane film that sheds light on the cruelty of United States’ immigration policies.”
– Ricardo Gallegos, La Estatuilla

“One of the best films I’ve seen in years.”
– Suzan Beraza, Mountainfilm Festival Director

“The definitive artwork on migrant deaths.”
– Bill Simmons, University of Arizona Human Rights Practice Program

»more info at the film website
»LISA MOLOMOT BIO

SEPTEMBER 10th PANEL AT THE LOFT

Daniel E. Martínez, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Sociology
Co-Director, Binational Migration Institute
University of Arizona

Daniel E. Martinez (PhD) is an associate professor in the School of Sociology and a co-director of the Binational Migration Institute at the University of Arizona. Dr. Martínez’s research and teaching interests include race and ethnicity, undocumented immigration, and criminology. He is particularly interested in the social and legal criminalization of undocumented migration. Dr. Martínez has also conducted extensive research on deportations and undocumented border crosser deaths along the US-Mexico border.

Geoff Boyce, PhD
Academic Director, Earlham College Border Studies Program
Research Associate, Binational Migration Institute, University of Arizona

Geoff Boyce (PhD) is Academic Director of the Earlham College Border Studies Program, an undergraduate liberal arts program that uses the U.S.-Mexico border region as a critical site for unpacking contemporary global realities. Dr. Boyce’s research and publications attend to the transnational dimensions of immigration and border policing, and their uneven dissemination of human vulnerability across scale.

Gabriella Soto, PhD
Honors Faculty Fellow at Barrett, The Honors College
Arizona State University

Gabriella Soto (PhD) is an anthropological archaeologist who studies how migrants, border agents, humanitarian activists, artists, land managers, and other stakeholders interact within the landscape of migration and contemporary security along the Mexico border in the U.S. Southwest. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 2018, and after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Trinity College, she joined the faculty at Arizona State University’s Barrett Honors College as an Honors Faculty Fellow.

Perla Torres
Family Network Director
Colibri Center for Human Rights

Perla is Colibrí’s Family Network Director. She is originally from Hermosillo, Sonora, and migrated to the United States with her family in 1999 and was raised in Tucson, AZ. Perla earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Pre-law from the University of Arizona, where she focused on immigration law reforms and justice for migrant rights. Post-college, Perla has continued her focus on social services while serving as a Case Manager for the Office of Refugee Resettlement working in the reunification of unaccompanied minors along the U.S.-Mexico border with families who reside in the United States. She continued her work as the Children’s Specialist for the Guatemalan consulate in the Border Protection team. Perla continues her dedication to migrant rights as Colibrí’s Family Network Director. She will continue a legacy of work to build solidarity, community, a movement among families who have experienced loss at the border.

Sam Chambers, PhD
Researcher, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health
University of Arizona

Sam Chambers (PhD) is a Researcher with the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at The University of Arizona. With the UA Binational Migration Institute, he examines the spatiotemporal patterns of border-crosser mortalities, the change in migration routes in response to border militarization, and the physiological impacts of extreme environments. In addition to his border studies, he researches population-level health effects of climate change, the spread of vector-borne disease among vulnerable populations, and the environmental impacts of energy development.