Filmmakers Jackie Barragan and Celina Galicia join hosts Stephanie Valle and Lisa Elliott to talk about the Femme Frontera showcase and what inspires them to create their stories.
Jackie Barragan is a documentary filmmaker born and raised on the US/Mexico Border in El Paso, TX. She graduated from UTEP with a Bachelor’s in Anthropology and a Minor in Dance. She’s passionate about the nuances of cultural identity specifically on the border and the connection to this region’s indigenous heritage. She has been an activist against environmental racism and has studied extensively grassroots social movements, particularly the Zapatista movement.
Jackie directed and produced the short film documentary JOSIE, a film about her mother’s motivation in becoming an undefeated martial artist. JOSIE screened nationally at a variety of film festivals and received 1st Place and Audience Choice Awards at the Plaza Classic Film Festival in 2021.
Barragan is also the Co-Director of Femme Frontera, an organization of Latine women and gender-expansive filmmakers based out of the border whose purpose is to create more opportunities for underrepresented communities specifically on the border.
Celina Galicia is a filmmaker from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, now living in El Paso, Tx. She studied Communication and Digital Media at the Tecnológico de Monterrey in Ciudad Juárez. She has been part of film collectives in Juárez and El Paso TX. She has worked in different advertising agencies as a DP, Editor and Director. In the last 10 years she has independently developed different projects including music videos, short documentaries and narrative short films. Celina has been actively involved in the film industry for 4 years, contributing to various projects for platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Paramount Pictures, and HBO. In 2021, her film, Cenicero de Dios, won the 2nd place award at the Plaza Classic Film Festival.
Femme Frontera Filmmaker Showcase, June 7th and 8th, 2025
Downtown El Paso (Venue to be announced on their webpage and instagram)
7 carefully curated films, from all around the world, many from Mexico ("Tenura Radical" was chosen to be part of the showcase) will be shown.
The showcase will tour afterwards around country and at many film festivals internationally. The Femme Frontera Film Showcase will be shown at the Plaza Classic Film Festival. Currently scheduled for Friday, July 25th (date subject to change).
Shorts blocks this year include:
LGBTQIA
Local Filmmakers
Latinas
Women
There will also be a panel and other events.
Border Witness:Reimagining the US-Mexico Borderlands Through Film by 
Hidden Chicano Cinema: Film Dramas in the Borderlands by 
The Magic Curtain: the Mexican-American Border in Fiction, Film, and Song by "Femme Frontera is a film organization founded and led by women and gender-expansive filmmakers from the U.S.-Mexico border region of El Paso, Texas, Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua, México. Femme Frontera centers the experiences of women and gender-expansive people within the U.S./Mexico border diaspora, as well as border regions around the world, and generates resources and support for filmmakers whose lived border experiences inform their connection to those stories. We provide essential support and expanded access for filmmakers who are navigating and examining pervasive and perceived barriers globally, especially at the US-Mexico border. Femme Frontera’s ecosystem offers filmmakers and communities opportunities for shared storytelling and discourse, exhibitions and showcases, project funding, peer-to-peer resources, mentorship, and film education, toward a world beyond and in defiance of borders and barriers."
Independent Female Filmmakers: A Chronicle through Interviews, Profiles, and Manifestos by 
The Value Gap: Female-Driven Films from Pitch to Premiere by 
Women in the International Film Industry by "The intention of this documentary is to honor the struggle and triumph of my mother by sharing her extraordinary story in hope of reaching the hearts and minds of others, particularly young Mexican and Chicana women who have experienced similar transgressions in their lives."
“OME TLALOC: Ceremonial Tattoos” Trailer - IyariCreative.com
"Ome Tlaloc tells his personal journey of his trials and tribulations growing up on the border town of El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico. He discusses his connection to his art and indigenous heritage and reveals how it has guided him through difficult times. He shares his dedication to the decolonization of tattooing by practicing the ceremonial hand-poke tradition. He discusses the indigenous history of the border region. We are taken to a sacred site in El Paso, TX, where he conducts a ceremony for a tattoo client and we are able to witness the intimate process of a hand-poke tattoo session."
"Ciclo de Creadores Juareses - 'Cenicero de Dios' " - YouTube (Secretaria de Cultura de Chihuahua)
"Ternura Radical" Teaser (2024) - Vimeo
Summary: "Ternura Radical” is a documentary that highlights the cases of impunity of the femicide of the artist and social activist Isabel Cabanillas and the forced disappearance of Esmeralda Castillo Rincón in Ciudad Juárez, inspiring the struggle of women who, through graphic art, poetry and music, resist, provide support to families and seek justice for the victims of disappearance and femicide in Mexico."
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