BEST DOCUMENTARY NOMINEE - Imagen Awards 2022 | HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - Educational Media Reviews Online | OFFICIAL SELECTION - Tribeca Film Festival 2021 | OFFICIAL SELECTION - WoodHole Film Festival 2021
Reproductive Rights • Reproductive Health • Family Planning • Access to Abortion
Date of Completion: 2021 | Run Time: 79 minutes | Language: English & Spanish with English subtitles | Captions: Yes | Includes: Transcript | Directors: Leah Galant & Maya Cueva | Producers: Diane Becker, Melanie Miller, Amanda Spain & Elizabeth Woodward | Unavailable outside of US and Canada
ON THE DIVIDE follows the stories of three Latinx people living in McAllen, Texas, who, despite their conflicting views, are connected by the most unexpected of places: the last abortion clinic on the U.S./Mexico border. Despite their pro-life or pro-choice views, Mercedes, Rey and Denisse do not fit neatly on either side of the abortion debate, and their stories reveal that the issue is not as black and white as it might seem. As threats to the clinic and their personal safety mount, these three are forced to make decisions they never could have imagined. ON THE DIVIDE goes beyond the clinic walls to explore the complex stories of those who have an unlikely stake in the issues surrounding abortion. In a community lacking healthcare options, what does it mean to go against your beliefs in order to survive?
Educational Media Reviews Online | Rachael Dreyer, Head of Research Services for Special Collections, Pennsylvania State University
Highly Recommended. "Artfully done, this documentary shows the complexity of the pro-life/pro-choice debate within the community of McAllen, TX--for those involved, it is always deeply personal and informed by lived experiences."
Films for the Feminist Classroom | Reviewed by Renée Monchalin
"On the Divide speak to the layered experiences of abortion access as a person of color in the United States."
FILM THREAT | Sabina Dana Plasse
"On the Divide is a slice of what is happening around reproductive rights on the ground."
the WORD | Greggory Morris
"ON THE DIVIDE is gripping and compelling, edge-of-the-seat storytelling at its best, with 79 minutes of take-a-deep-breath cinematography."
AWARDS
Best Documentary Feature | Santa Fe Independent Film Festival
Best Documentary Feature | New Orleans Film Festival
Best Documentary Nominee | Imagen Awards
FESTIVALS
Tribeca Film Festival 2021
WoodHole Film Festival 2021
rePRO Film Festival 2021
Santa Fe Independent Film Festival
New Orleans Film Festival
WATCH DOCS International Film Festival
Human Rights Watch Film Festival
Boston Latino International Film Festival
Dallas VideoFest
National Youth Filmmaker Summit
San Francisco Latino Film Festival
Heartland Film Festival
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
Tallgrass Film Festival
St. Louis International Film Festival
Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival
Director of ON THE DIVIDE
Maya Cueva is a Latina award-winning director and producer with a background in documentary, radio, and audio producing. She is a Netflix Nonfiction Director and Producer fellow and was recently listed on DOC NYC’s “40 Under 40 Filmmakers” co-presented by HBO Documentary Films. Maya’s work has been featured on The New Yorker, NPR's “All Things Considered,” “Latino USA,” The Atlantic, Teen Vogue, and National Geographic. She received a student Emmy for her short film THE PROVIDER and her feature film, ON THE DIVIDE, premiered in the documentary competition at Tribeca Film Festival in 2021. Her most recent short documentary ALE LIBRE was acquired by The New Yorker and was selected to screen at several Oscar qualifying festivals, including Big Sky Documentary Festival, Hot Docs, Aspen Film Festival, and SFFILM. Maya’s feature documentary ON THE DIVIDE will be broadcast on POV on PBS in Spring 2022.
REQUEST A GOOD TALK WITH FILMMAKER LEAH GALANT
Co-Director & Director of Photography of ON THE DIVIDE
Leah Galant is a Jewish filmmaker and Fulbright Scholar based in New York whose storytelling focuses on unexpected narratives that challenge perceptions. While at Ithaca College in 2015 she was named one of Variety’s "110 Students to Watch in Film and Media” for her work on THE PROVIDER that follows a traveling abortion doctor in Texas (SXSW 2016, Student Emmy Award) and BEYOND THE WALL about a formerly incarcerated individuals re-entry process. She was a Sundance Ignite and Jacob Burns Fellow where she created DEATH METAL GRANDMA (SXSW 2018) about a 97 year old Holocaust survivor named Inge Ginsberg who sings death metal which won “Best Documentary” at the American Pavilion at Cannes Film Festival, and is a NY Times Op Doc. Leah is a member of Meerkat Media worker-cooperative film production company. Leah's directorial debut ON THE DIVIDE premiered at the Tribeca 2021 Film Festival and will broadcast on POV PBS in the Spring of 2022.