"Bordertown" film producer visits CSUMB on Feb. 22

Filmmaker and activist Barbara Martinez Jitner visits CSU Monterey Feb. 22 to talk about the women's crisis in Juarez, Mexico.
Jitner will talk at 7 p.m. at the World Theater. The event is free. Reservations and more information is available at csumb.edu/speakers. 
Jitner's topic, “Femicide at our Border: To be a Woman in Juarez is a Death Sentence,” will examine reports of more than 400 women who have been found raped, mutilated and murdered in the border town.
The film “Bordertown,” starring Jennifer Lopez, addressed the issue. Jitner was a producer on the film.
Full press release can be read after the jump.

‘Bordertown’ producer to speak at CSUMB on Feb. 22 

Film will be shown the night before

The President’s Speaker Series at CSU Monterey Bay resumes on Feb. 22 when documentary filmmaker and human rights activist Barbara Martinez Jitner visits campus. Her topic: “Femicide at our Border: To be a Woman in Juarez is a Death Sentence.”

The talk will start at 7 p.m. in the World Theater and be followed by a question-and-answer session. Tickets are not required for this free event, but reservations are recommended and can be made online at csumb.edu/speakers or by calling the World Theater box office at 582-4580.

The border town of Juarez, Mexico, has been nicknamed the “capital of murdered women” because more than 400 women have been found raped, mutilated and murdered. Almost all of them worked in maquiladoras, American-owned factories that cropped up along the U.S.-Mexico border in the 1990s, following adoption of the NAFTA treaty.

Martinez Jitner posed as a factory worker to uncover a dark world of poverty, sexual abuse and murder. Her investigation led to the production of her critically acclaimed documentary “The Border,” and that, in turn, provided the inspiration for the feature film “Bordertown,” starring Jennifer Lopez and Antonio Banderas. Martinez Jitner served as executive producer of the film.

The lecture will give a personal look at the crippling poverty and gender discrimination that has made NAFTA’s “expendable workforce” into expendable human beings.

Martinez Jitner is the first Latina to be nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Emmy, honors she earned for her work on “American Family,” the first Latino drama on prime time network television.

She is currently adapting Victor Villasenor’s bestselling book, “Rain of Gold,” for an HBO miniseries.

The public is invited to a free showing of "Bordertown" at 7 p.m., Feb. 21 in the World Theater. For more information on the movie showing or the lecture, contact the World Theater at 582-4580 or visit them online at csumb.edu/worldtheater.