Migrantes Desaparecidos Línea Directa / Missing Migrant Hotline
TELÉFONO / CALL South Texas Human Rights Center: 361-325-2555.
About
A Feature Documentary
Two families search for their loved ones who went missing in the fields of Brooks County, Texas after crossing from Mexico and find a sobering truth: the deadliest part of the journey is far from the border.
Reviews
"One of the most nuanced and disturbing...films about the immigration crisis." – Boston Globe
"Exceptionally effective... The images speak for themselves" – Film Threat
"A sobering piece of film." – Film International
Awards
Winner • George Foster Peabody Award
Nominee • Critics' Choice Documentary Awards
Finalist • Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards
Best Southern Feature • Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
Best Documentary Feature • Ashland Ind. Film Festival
Best Documentary Feature • Toronto Arthouse Film Festival
Best Documentary Feature • San Luis Obispo Int. Film Festival
Best Documentary Feature • Newburyport Documentary Film Festival
Best Documentary Feature • Doc Boston Film Festival
Best Documentary Feature • Adirondack Film Festival
Best Documentary Feature • Thin Line Festival
Best Documentary Feature • Atlanta DocuFest
Best Documentary Feature • Lost River Film Festival
Audience Choice Award, Best Feature Film • Tacoma Film Festival
Audience Choice Award • San Luis Obispo Int. Film Festival
Past Screenings
Press
GASLIT NATION PODCAST
November 15, 2023
AMANPOUR & CO.
January 31, 2022
TELEMUNDO
January 28, 2022
TIME MAGAZINE
DEMOCRACY NOW!
“'Missing in Brooks County': Thousands of Migrants Denied Due Process at Border Have Died in Desert"
FOREIGN POLICY MAGAZINE
TEXAS MONTHLY
Participants
MOISES ZAVALA
has come to Brooks County to search for his missing cousin Juan who made the dangerous crossing from Mexico and was last seen at a local ranch. Moises won't leave Brooks County until he finds his young cousin.
OMAR ROMAN & MICHELLE CHINOS
have returned to Brooks County to find out what happened to Omar's brother, who went missing after fleeing from Border Patrol.
ALEX JARA
is a Border Patrol agent who goes out
on regular searches to find migrants
lost in the brush. He wonders aloud
about how to manage the emotional
toll his job takes on him.
EDDIE CANALES
is a retired union organizer who came out of retirement to open the modest South Texas Human Rights Center to deal with the missing migrant crisis. Canales is the only humanitarian help available in Brooks County, and his phone never stops ringing with families desperate to find their missing loved ones.
DR. KATE SPRADLEY
is a biological anthropologist at Texas State University. With her team of graduate students and colleague Krista Latham, Kate is trying to process the scores of bodies which were recently found buried in mass graves in Brooks County.
MICHAEL VICKERS
is a respected veterinarian and avid hunter who tracks and detains migrant trespassers on his land. He and his wife founded a paramilitary group that patrols ranches in South Texas.
Educational Sales
We have partnered with GOOD DOCS on educational distribution for Missing in Brooks County. If you are interested in purchasing or streaming the film for an educational institution listed below, please click on the GOOD DOCS icon.
● Universities
● Four-Year Colleges
● High Schools
● Community Colleges
● Nonprofits / Community Groups
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Newsletter
Filmmakers
JEFF BEMISS
(CO-DIRECTOR, PRODUCER)
is an award-winning, Oscar-shortlisted writer/director who has worked in shorts, features and documentaries. His work has aired on network television and PBS. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California film school and the L.A. Sanford Meisner Academy. Jeff is a Connecticut Artist Fellow and a Film Independent Fast Track Fellow. He freelances for disability and social activist clients and has taught film at Trinity College in Hartford, CT.
LISA MOLOMOT
(CO-DIRECTOR, PRODUCER)
is a former Fulbright Scholar and recipient of a Yale University Poynter Fellowship in Journalism. She has directed and edited documentaries about the American Southwest in recent years including Precious Knowledge, The Cleaners, and Soledad. She has also focused on stories about education. Her hugely popular film School's Out has been an integral part of the movement for providing outdoor education for young children, and her recent short film Teaching in Arizona is an inside look at the teaching crisis in that state.
JACOB BRICCA, ACE
(EDITOR, PRODUCER)
is an award-winning documentary editor who has worked on over a dozen features, including Lost in La Mancha (IFC Films) and the 2016 Sundance award winner The Bad Kids. He last worked with Molomot on her feature The Hill, which was broadcast on PBS. A member of the American Cinema Editors, he is an Associate Professor at the University of Arizona's School of Theatre, Film & Television.
Executive Producers
SALLY JO FIFER
LOIS VOSSEN
(INDEPENDENT LENS)
STEVEN ENGEL
HEIDI REAVIS
STEPHANIE ANGELIDES
JENNA HELWIG
(ENGEL ENTERTAINMENT)
ABIGAIL DISNEY
GINI RETICKER
(FORK FILMS)
Funders
Missing in Brooks County is funded by ITVS, Fork Films, and Engel Entertainment, with additional funding from Perspective Fund, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, the LEF Foundation, the University of Arizona Office of Research, Innovation and Impact, Human Rights POV, UA Hanson Film Institute, the Connecticut Office of the Arts, MountainFilm, and the University of Arizona College of Fine Arts. Fiscal sponsorship by the International Documentary Association.
