NO SON INVISIBLES: MAYA WOMEN AND MICROFINANCE
takes place in San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico featuring Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize Recipient, of Grameen Bank, the Father of Microcredit. 2006 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Muhammad Yunus, guides us through the stories of three women, pointing out how Microfinance has become a strong source of change in their lives and others, empowering them to become independent.
No Son Invisibles: Maya Women and Microfinance featuring Muhammad Yunus, was originally screened at Cannes film festival in France and the Buñuel Festival in Calanda, Spain. It was translated into various languages, including Arabic for the Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran, Iran. It went on to the Guadalajara Film Festival, Torino and Roma Film Festivals in Italy and The Seattle Int'l Latino Film Festival as well as the Del Ray Beach Film Festival. It was also screened at The University of Washington and University of Texas as well as in San Francisco for the Women Advancing Microfincance organization. It has been acquired by university libraries at Harvard, Stanford, UT, TCU, Baylor, University of Washington, Vanderbilt, USC, and SMU libraries among others.
EL BARRIO
was screened at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Best International Documentary Award in October of 2006 at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival (NYIIFVF) in Los Angeles and the Founders Choice Award for Best Feature Documentary at NYIIFVF in New York City in November, 2006. It was also in official selection at the Berlin Film Festival in a group of Latin American films organized by Pablo Udenio of Haciendo Cine magazine from Argentina.
Eme Eidson (Melissa) is an accomplished filmmaker, with write-ups in cineuropa.org and Variety magazines. Her documentary film, El Barrio (2007), about life in the Tepito neighborhood of Mexico City, was screened at the Berlin and Cannes film festivals, and won the Best Documentary and Founder's Choice Award at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in 2007. Her documentary film, No Son Invisibles: Maya Women and Microfinance (2007, 44 min.), was screened at Cannes, Torino, Roma, Guadalajara, Tehran, Seattle Latino, Del Rey Beach, and Dubai film festivals, and has been acquired by many university libraries around the globe - including Harvard, Stanford, UT, TCU, Baylor, University of Washington, Vanderbilt, USC, and SMU - as part of their film/video resources. Eidson directs, writes, and produces most of this work herself. Lately, she has been working on two short film projects. The first is a fiction film which deals with issues of gender, trauma, and sexual assault, entitled Aura, which was filmed in Greece. The second short, about sex-trafficking, is almost finished with post-production. She also has been making a documentary, Slow Fashion, on environmentally sustainable garment production, filmed at varying locations, from India to Laos to Guinea in West Africa and Oaxaca in Southern Mexico.