Lucha Libre Movie Brings Attention to ‘Femicide’ in Juarez

A lucha libre movie at SXSW is drawing attention to the massive amount of women that go missing or are murder south of the border down in Juarez. The movie is called Luchadoras, and it's described as follows:

Directed by Paola Calvo and Patrick Jasim, Luchadoras follows three women from Juárez as they wrestle and fight to overcome their own personal struggles while living in one of the most dangerous cities in the world. News reports of the latest murder victims—including a young activist, Isabel Cabanillas, who rode her bike everywhere to stay as close as possible to the community—play throughout the film. These reports never seem to stop. They’re unsettling.

Check out the trailer Luchadoras:

The issues that women run into south of the border are getting more and more news coverage. Check out this report from Vice that dates back to just last August.

On average, 10 women are killed A DAY down in Mexico. Down in Juarez alone, there have been 39 women murdered in just the first few months of 2021. Now if you aren't familiar with the term femicide, it's basically a woman being murdered by a man simply because she's a woman. Some countries are starting to acknowledge the problems and dangers facing women, but it's still not enough.

One of the stories featured in the movie surrounded Lady Candy:

And then there’s Lady Candy, who in between wrestling and working at a funeral home is applying for a visa to visit El Paso. That’s where her daughters live. She wrestles, in part, to raise money for her work permit since she goes months without even talking to her two elementary school daughters. Her ex-husband used to beat her, then he took their daughters to the other side of the U.S.-Mexico border and sometimes prohibits them from even calling their mom. The documentary never shows him, but he’s there in the same way that violence lurks over women in Juárez.