AIR LAND SEA: Ay Mariposa

Dive Deep into our World
One Week | 10 Films

September 13-19

a co-presentation of Rialto Cinemas and Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival

Fri, Sep 13 5pm
Sun, Sep 15 12pm
Mon, Sep 16 3pm
Wed, Sep 18 1pm

A documentary film about two women and a rare community of butterflies standing on the front lines in a battle against the US-Mexico border wall.

Ay Mariposa tells a story of La Mariposa, Zulema, and Marianna–three characters in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas whose lives are upended by plans to build a US-Mexico border wall. As the director of the National Butterfly Center, Marianna Trevino Wright has become a leader of wall resistance in the Valley, a position that has resulted in violent threats from pro-wall factions and an emotional odyssey as she tries to navigate the ever-shifting sands of border policy. Zulema Hernandez, a life-long migrant worker, immigrant and great grandmother, has been a dedicated advocate for all migrants, both wild and human-kind. Meanwhile the butterfly, La Mariposa, fights its own daily battle for survival in a landscape where more than 95 percent of its habitat is long gone and much of what remains lies directly in the path of the wall.

The film draws a portrait of Zulema, la Mariposa, and Marianna's lives and conveys their struggles in the lengthening shadow of a border wall, delving into the motivations that underlie their opposition and actions, and the surprising ties that bind them all together.

This film tells a microcosmic tale of all that is being lost in the rush to build border barriers along the 2,000-mile meeting place of the United States and Mexico.