Film Screening: Missing in Brooks County

The Film Studies program is delighted to announce the screening of the documentary film Missing in Brooks County, with the presence of the director Lisa Molomot, on Thursday September 26. The screening will take place in the Olivia De Havilland Lecture Theatre in the Monttessuy building and well begin promptly at 17h. Guests outside of AUP should register at the bottom of the page by filling in the form.

Missing in Brooks County tells the story two families search for their loved ones who went missing in the fields of Brooks County, Texas after crossing from Mexico and find a sobering truth: the deadliest part of the journey is far from the border.

70 miles north of the Mexican-US border lies Brooks County, Texas - a haunted, inhospitable place where thousands of immigrants have gone missing or died over the past decade. Missing in Brooks County follows the journey of two families who arrive in Brooks County to look for their loved ones, only to find a mystery that deepens at every turn. Stuck between the jurisdiction of border agents, local law enforcement, and cartels, the county is a barren landscape designed as a deterrent to illegal crossings. Despite this tactical designation, the municipality has never been provided the resources to process the remains of the hundreds of undocumented immigrants who succumb to dehydration and exposure each year. Missing in Brooks County is a potent reminder that these deaths are more than a statistic—each represents a living human being, loved by their family, now lost.

Awards and Official Selections:
Peabody Award Winner, 2022
Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, Finalist, 2022
Critics Choice Documentary Award, Nominee, 2022
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, October 2020, AWARD WINNER
Lost River Film Festival, October 2020, AWARD WINNER
L-Dub Film Festival, October 2020, AWARD WINNER
Thin Line Film Festival, March 2021, AWARD WINNER
Red Dirt Film Festival, March 2021, AWARD WINNER
San Luis Obispo Film Festival, March 2021, AWARD WINNER
Fargo Film Festival, March 2021, AWARD WINNER
Ashland Independent Film Festival, April 2021, AWARD WINNER
Xicanindie Film Festival, April 2021, AWARD WINNER
RiverRun Film Festival, May 2021, AWARD WINNER
Documentary Boston Film Festival, July 2021, AWARD WINNER
Atlanta Docufest, September 2021, AWARD WINNER
Newburyport Documentary Film Festival, September 2021, AWARD WINNER
Adirondack Film Festival, October 2021, AWARD WINNER
Tacoma Audience Choice Award, October 2021, AWARD WINNER
Mystic Film Festival, October 2021, October 2021, AWARD WINNER


Filmmakers’ Statement: MISSING IN BROOKS COUNTY began as the story of one forensic scientist trying to identify migrants buried anonymously in Brooks County, Texas. But each time we returned to film in South Texas the story got bigger, as we realized the complexity and severity of the situation. We met migrants, sheriffs and activists. Ranchers, rangers and vigilantes. Consuls, judges, and undertakers. If we held stereotypical beliefs about Border Patrol agents, law enforcement and Texas ranchers, they have been obliterated by our experiences making this film. Our goal became to convey the complexity of the situation we encountered. Border Patrol is given the job of operating a massive immigration checkpoint situated in the middle of a treacherous desert, and also of saving the lives of migrants who attempt to circumvent it. Local ranchers are divided over what to do about the situation. Migrants themselves often have no idea of the true dangers of the journey they have chosen to undertake, and are at the mercy of coyotes (human smugglers) who will leave them to die if they cannot keep up over the three-to-four day trek.

In order to build a portrait of everyday life in Falfurrias, TX, vérité footage is the foundation of MISSING IN BROOKS COUNTY. We have been present at many moments of discovery and revelation, documenting the missing as they were reported, rescued, recovered or exhumed. We rode with Sheriff's deputies and Border Patrol, with ranchers and vigilantes. We filmed men and women wading across the Rio Grande at night, and we filmed men and women as they surrendered to Brooks County law enforcement, dehydrated and exhausted. We filmed the emotional testimony of a border crosser, his face shielded, as he described the moment he realized the teenage boy he was carrying—one of the missing individuals portrayed in the film—was no longer alive. Most importantly, we met the families of the missing, who became the emotional center of the film.

As rendered through the stories of Homero Roman and Juan Maceda, our vision for MISSING IN BROOKS COUNTY is an immersive experience of an American town that has been caught in the middle of the life and death situation created by the militarization of the U.S./Mexico border. And just as we have learned so much while making this film, we hope viewers will look at immigration in a new way and begin to include the deceased and the missing in the national debate.