Skip navigation
Visit Your Local PBS Station PBS Home PBS Home Programs A-Z TV Schedules Support PBS Shop PBS Search PBS

Maquilapolis | Click here to return to homepage

Premiered: Oct. 10, 2006 at 10PM | Check for Rebroadcasts

Watch the Trailer
VIDEO PORTRAITS

The Promotoras

The filmmakers of "Maquilapolis: City of Factories" conducted a series of video workshops in Tijuana, during which participating promotoras — factory workers who fight for workers' rights — learned to document their lives and the issues in their community. Watch several video diaries created during the workshop and some additional scenes from the film not shown in the broadcast version.

More Special Features

INTERVIEW
Wasting Away

INTERVIEWS
Growing a Green Economy

Carmen

Clip 1 | Carmen's Diary: Family Life

Workshop participants filmed slice-of-life video segments of their lives at home. In this clip, Carmen Durán records dinner with her children, Paloma and Alex. | Watch Video

Eva

Clip 2 | Making a Living: Eva Supplements her Income

Maquiladoras do not pay a living wage, and many workers take on additional work in order to make ends meet. Eva earns extra money cooking and selling food to nearby laborers. | Watch Video

Carmen

Clip 3 | Carmen's Diary: Running

Carmen created this video diary entry about her hobby, running.  | Watch Video

Vianey

Clip 4 | Vianey Portrait: Hope for the Future

Watch a short introductory clip of Vianey not shown in "Maquilapolis." | Watch Video

Lourdes

Clip 5 | Lourdes's Diary: A Family Portrait

View an excerpt of one of Lourdes's early video diary entries.  | Watch Video

Diana

Clip 6 | Infrastructure: Diana Gets Water

Tijuana, with its enormous office parks and commercial spaces, still lacks the infrastructure for electricity, water and sewage disposal in many of its residential neighborhoods. In this clip, Diana describes how she brings water from her neighbor's house to hers. | Watch Video

Carmen

Clip 7 | Carmen's Diary: Land

Sometimes working two or three consecutive shifts in the factories, Carmen saved enough money to purchase a small plot of land for her children. She hopes to someday build a home for them on the plot. | Watch Video

Carmen Dur·n holding a flyback mechanism

"The factory workers who appear in 'Maquilapolis' were involved in every stage of production. We wanted to embrace subjectivity — their subjectivity — as a value, and to merge our filmmaking with their voices."

—Vicky Funari

More Special Features:
Wasting Away | Growing a Green Economy
What's Your P.O.V.?

Share your reactions to "Maquilapolis" with us: talk about the film with other viewers.

P.O.V. > Maquilapolis: Film Update | Special Features | Behind the Lens | Talking Back
Resources | For Educators | About the Film

Posted September 28, 2006

 About P.O.V.   Contact P.O.V.   P.O.V. Projects   For Producers   Site Map   Newsletter   Pressroom   About American Documentary