Laura Bustillos Jáquez (Labú)
We were fortunate enough to catch Labú while she was in town for a few days, as her current film projects have pulled her to Paris, France, and Montréal, Canada. But no matter where her international film work takes her, she emphatically defines herself as an artist from the border. That theme can be drawn throughout her work, as she tells stories that interrogate borders that are both internal and external.
While she has this inclination to tell uniquely human stories, her political lens also informs her work, as her previous film productions have covered demonstrations against Juárez’s feminicidio crisis and other direct actions led by working class women. As a mentor and advocate, Labú has made important space for other womxn-identifying filmmakers to follow in her footsteps through her involvement with Femme Frontera, a collective of female filmmakers (founded by Angie Reza Tures) who advocate for womxn’s voices through media education workshops and community outreach. Looking through her body of work, you get this sense that Labú is both creating art in this contemporary moment, and preserving these memories and voices for future generations. She is compelled to her work, and we are called in to listen to the voices she amplifies. Hear these voices and see these works on her website.
From Labú’s bio: “I am a documentary filmmaker and photographer from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico raised in the border sister city of El Paso, Texas, USA. I first became interested in telling stories from the border prior to my graduation from Brooks Institute in Ventura, CA where I received a BA in Visual Journalism with a special recognition. In search of my own voice, I recognized the value of my culture and where I come from. I come from a place of physical division, a limbo between two countries where the most beautiful art is created by first-hand victims of drug war violence. I grew up back and forth between countries. I know what it’s like to live in fear and still see the perfection of life in everything that breathes and withers. I see magic and beauty everywhere I go – in light and in darkness.”
Watch the first episode of one of her most recent projects, Undocumented Freedom, below:
