Councilwoman
A film by Margo Guernsey
COUNCILWOMAN follows the first term of Rhode Island Councilwoman Carmen Castillo as she balances her day job as a hotel housekeeper with the demands of public office.
US | 2018 | 57 minutes | Color | DVD | English/Spanish | Subtitled | Order No. 191237
SYNOPSIS
COUNCILWOMAN is the inspiring story of Carmen Castillo, an immigrant Dominican housekeeper in a Providence hotel who wins a seat in City Council, taking her advocacy for low-income workers from the margins to city politics.
The film follows Castillo’s first term as she balances her full-time day job as a housekeeper with her family life and the demands of public office. She faces skeptics who say she doesn’t have the education to govern, the power of corporate interests who take a stand against her fight for a $15 hourly wage, and a tough re-election against two contenders. As Castillo battles personal setbacks and deep-rooted notions of who is qualified to run for political office, she fiercely defends her vision of a society in which all people can earn enough to support themselves and their families.
An eye-opening look at entrenched power in American democracy, COUNCILWOMAN is essential viewing for Latinx, Immigrant, Political Science and Labor Studies courses.
PRESS
"A personal and inspiring portrait, Guernsey’s behind-the-scenes foray positions Castillo as a powerful face of contemporary American grassroots politics at a moment pivotal in the fight for immigrant rights and political representation in the United States."
"A story about an immigrant, a mother, a hotel housekeeper and a union organizer who broke into the political world to fight for her community."
"Castillo embodies the trend of political candidates becoming more diverse in terms of gender, class and ethnicity."
"Inspiring. Serves both as record and template for what politics and politicians can look like in 2019."
SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS
- Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
- Athena Film Festival
- Salem Film Festival
- Havana Film Festival New York
- San Diego Latina Film Festival
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Margo Guernsey
Margo Guernsey began her film career in 2010 as a producer at WPBT2 (Miami). Since 2012 she has worked freelance as a director and producer of industrial videos in the Boston area. Over the past 20 years, Margo has worked as a union organizer, non-profit development director, Spanish/English translator and media instructor, always building multi-racial collaborations across class lines to inform the work of building a more just society. Margo brings her organizing, fundraising and filmmaking background to work on film outreach and impact. She holds an MFA in Film (University of Miami), MA in History (Umass/Amherst), BA in History (Brown University), and is a Tribeca/Camden/CNNFilms Retreat Alumni. COUNCILWOMAN is her first feature documentary. (2/19)
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NBC News: Councilwoman chronicles the story of a politician — and proud hotel housekeeper
Article about Carmen Castillo
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NBC News: Councilwoman and hotel housekeeper: Latina lawmaker redefines public service
Article about Carmen Castillo
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Filmmaker Magazine
Interview: Margo Guernsey on Making Her Feature-Length Political Documentary
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Providence Journal
‘Councilwoman’ follows Providence Ward 9′s Carmen Castillo’s first term on city council
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Four Wives – One Man
From Nahid Persson, the filmmaker of the award-winning Prostitution Behind the Veil, comes an intimate portrait of a polygamist family in a rural Iranian village. Persson reveals the intricacies of the relationships between the four wives, their husband, their astoundingly free-spoken mother-in-law and their numerous children. Sometimes humorous and often heartbreaking, this film follows the daily lives of the wives whose situation has turned them into both bitter rivals and co-conspirators against their abusive husband.
Persson’s camera unobtrusively and beautifully captures the range of the family’s interactions – from peaceful, pastoral scenes of a family picnic, to the temporary chaos caused by a broken faucet in the kitchen, to a furtive, whispered conversation between two wives about the latest beating. The women’s work – making bread, weaving carpets, milking and herding the sheep – provide the background to their frank conversations. Avoiding sensationalism and sentimentality, this film provides unique insights into the practice of polygamy and its effect on the women involved.
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