NYWIFT Co-Presents a Free Screening of On the Divide

NYWIFT is proud to co-present a screening of On the Divide, which follows the story of three Latinx people living in McAllen, Texas who, despite their views, are connected by the most unexpected of places: the last abortion clinic on the US/Mexico border.

The film is directed by Maya Cueva and Leah Galant.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Leah Galant, moderated by NYWIFT Board Member Zenaida Mendez. 

Date: Tuesday, May 9th, 2023
Time: 6:00pm – 9:30pm  EDT
Location: Rutgers Presbyterian Church, 236 w. 73rd St., NYC

Schedule:
6pm Doors
6:30pm Movies + Discussion 
8:45pm Hangs
9:30pm Afters at nearby bar (TBA)

RSVP

About the Feature Film

On the Divide had its premiere at Tribeca Film Festival in 2021 and since then has had an incredible worldwide festival tour, winning Best Documentary at both Santa Fe Independent Film Festival and at New Orleans Film Festival, as well as the Humanitarian Award at DocUtah.

It was nominated for Best Documentary at Imagen Awards and Best Latinx/US film at the Cinema Tropical Awards.

Watch the trailer.

About the Short Film

Before the main screening, we’ll also screen a short documentary In Accordance With, that centers on a border checkpoint where pregnant people are forced to endure invasive and emotionally abusive measures in order to get an abortion. The dialogue in this film is taken verbatim from State-mandated anti-choice materials, and imagines a world in which the territory of the body and the territory of the nation are collapsed into one space.

Moderator

NYWIFT Board Member Zenaida Mendez has been awarded the 2022 prestigious Jewell Ryan White Award for Cultural Diversity from the Alliance of Community Media. This annual award is given to persons who show an outstanding contribution to a process that encourages, facilitates, or creates culturally diverse and/or non-mainstream community involvement in the field of community media. Mendez holds the esteemed position of Director of Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) El Barrio Firehouse Community Media Center. Mendez has an intensive career in public service, community activism, television production, and filmmaking. As a social justice activist, she is an avid voice for tolerance and has many years of experience working as an advocate for women’s and LGBTQI+ rights, as well as economic, racial and environmental justice. She also develops dynamic event-based programming initiatives, including developing partnerships with local nonprofits and community groups.

She is currently Executive Producer of the monthly facilitated MNN Productions: Both Sides of the Bars, Radical Imagination, Critica, NY, Punto de Vista, Makilala TV the only National Filipino-American TV Program, Femenismo Global with former NYC Councilwoman Margarita Lopez, Health Action TV with Former Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, Forward Together: Bishop William J. Barber II and the Poor People’s Campaign. As a filmmaker, Mendez collaborated on the film Coffee and a Donut the 2019 Best Short film by Independence Latino Film Festival NYC, Int’l Indie works (Audience Choice Award); SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Short film Showcase, and Dominican film Festival showcase. She is Co-Producer Clandestiny, the Artemis Award-winner Women in Action Film.

This REUNION screening is co-hosted by POV, Cinema Tropical, New York Women in Film & Television, The Future of Film is Female, Noise for Now, Meerkat Media, and Latino Filmmakers Network.

On the Divide received finishing funds from the NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre, a groundbreaking initiative from The NYC Mayor’s Office for Media and Entertainment (MOME) that is administered by New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA).