If you’re looking for the next “Making a Murderer,” “Serial,” or “West of Memphis” you’re in for some good news: an award-winning true crime documentary by Deborah S. Esquenazi has secured worldwide distribution. “Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four” made its world premiere at Tribeca earlier this year, then went on to screen to rave reviews at Hot Docs, Frameline San Francisco, and AFI Docs Film Festival. Now the story of four Latina lesbians wrongfully convicted of a gruesome crime is heading to theaters and television.
A press release has announced that Investigation Discovery (ID) has purchased the rights to the U.S. television premiere of doc “with FilmRise acquiring ancillary worldwide rights, and the film being released in theaters this fall.”
As press notes detail, the “documentary film chronicles the nightmarish persecution of Elizabeth Ramirez, Cassandra Rivera, Kristie Mayhugh, and Anna Vasquez … [who were] wrongfully convicted of gang-raping two little girls in San Antonio, Texas over 20 years ago during the ‘Satanic Panic’ of the 1980s-1990s. Despite flawed medical evidence and convictions based solely on the testimony of two young children, the women always maintained their innocence — and have waged an ongoing fight for exoneration.”
“Reflecting the best of ID’s mission to inform and inspire, ‘Southwest of Salem’ provides poignant testimony to the consequences of wrongful persecution and incarceration — as well as the ultimate strength and, indeed, triumph of human spirit,” said Henry Schleiff, Group President, Investigation Discovery, American Heroes Channel and Destination America.
Esquenazi added, “As a filmmaker, I am committed to using media to reveal societal inequities, rally support for important causes, and create probing, powerful cinema. This is what inspired my work on behalf of Cassandra Rivera, Kristie Mayhugh, Anna Vasquez, and Elizabeth Ramirez. These brave women, no doubt, were living boldly for San Antonio, Texas in the ’90s, and were railroaded because of their sexual identities. Nobody should have to face this type of agonizing prejudice, and hopefully their journeys were not in vain. Their case sits at the precipice of changing attitudes towards gay rights in America — and yet, so much more remains to be done to eradicate homophobia, misogyny, and the railroading of innocents at the hands of our justice system. We are honored to be partnering with this stellar team of distributors in getting the film out to the widest audience possible with the hopes of getting the San Antonio Four fully exonerated.”
Esquenazi told Women and Hollywood that the doc “is fast-paced with several plot twists. And while “a lot unfolds in this emotional film,” she emphasized that she hopes viewers “will catch some of the underlying mythologies and intersectional themes that play out underneath it all, particularly in the way in which the women were portrayed by overzealous prosecutors and how they were represented during a cultural hysteria — the Satanic sexual abuse panic of the 1980’s and 1990’s.”
“Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four” will open in theaters September 14, and ID Films will air its television premiere in October.
