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Mija

Synopsis

Doris Muñoz is a young, ambitious music manager whose undocumented family depends on her ability to launch pop stars. When she loses her biggest client, Doris hustles to discover new talent and finds Jacks, another daughter of immigrants for whom "making it" isn't just a dream: it's a necessity.

The Filmmakers

Isabel Castro Director and Producer

Isabel Castro is a Mexican-American filmmaker who aims to shine a light on civil rights injustice and into the hidden corners of the immigrant experience in America. 

Isabel directed, produced, and lensed the documentary short USA v Scott (Tribeca 2020, The New Yorker) a film that explores the legality and ethics of humanitarian aid for migrants, Emmy-nominated Darlin (Tribeca 2019, NYT OpDocs), which follows a Honduran family in the months after their separation under the zero tolerance policy; and the Netflix docu-series Pandemic. Her directorial debut Crossing Over (Univison/Participant Media), about transgender asylum seekers, won a 2015 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary. Castro has worked as a multimedia journalist for The New York Times, as a producer at The Marshall Project, on two seasons of the Emmy-award winning series VICE on HBO, and as a producer covering civil rights and policy at VICE News Tonight on HBO, where her work was nominated for an Emmy in 2017. She is an Artist-in-Residence at Concordia Studio and an SFFILM/Catapult Fund Fellow. Mija is her first feature film.

Tabs Breese Producer

Tabs Breese is a Los Angeles-based producer originally from London. She began her career working in development for production companies Portobello Studios, Pulse Films, Passion Pictures, and Concordia Studio. Over that decade, Tabs worked on a range of films in various capacities, including as Field Producer on Second Coming about the artist D’Angelo (Tribeca 2019); as Development Producer on the Netflix Original Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator (TIFF 2019); and as Development Associate Producer on Boys State (Sundance 2020). In addition to Mija, Tabs’ current slate includes the latest feature documentary from director Dan Sickles, whose previous film Dina won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in 2017. Tabs is a Sheffield Documentary Festival Future Producer (2017), a Refinery29 x Google News Initiative Fellow (2019), and an IDFAcademy Producer School Alumna (2019).

Yesenia Tlahuel Associate Producer

Yesenia Tlahuel is a South Central L.A native born to Mexican parents. Her most recent work as an Associate Producer includes includes VP Biden’s 2020 Campaign films by Academy Award Winning Director Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth), New York Times OpDocs Emmy nominated series, “From Here to Home: American Stories about Immigration and Belonging,” Academy-nominated short film Walk Run Cha-cha and Apple’s first digital WWDC  as a story producer. Tlahuel is currently working with Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine) on their Netflix documentary series.

Festivals & Awards

Cinema Eye Honors

2023

Winner - The Unforgettables - Doris Munoz

Nominee - Audience Choice Prize

IDA Documentary Awards

2023

Nominee - Best Feature Documentary 

Film Independent Spirit Awards

2023

Nominee - Truer Than Fiction Award

Sundance Film Festival

2022

Official Selection

Nominee - NEXT Innovator Award

CPH:DOX

2022

Official Selection

Full Frame Documentary Film Festival

2022

Official Selection

True/False Film Fest

2022

Official Selection

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival

2022

Official Selection

Miami Film Festival

2022

Official Selection

Champs-Élysées Film Festival

2022

Winner - Longs métrages américains

San Francisco International Film Festival

2022

Nominee - Best Documentary Feature

Reviews

Dazzling [and] heartrending... A tribute to those children of immigrants, especially those in families divided across borders...MIJA beams with the knowledge that in its specificity it speaks to millions. That this documentary soon becomes a rock in an avalanche and not an isolated bright star of representation is the hope.”

-IndieWire, Critic's Pick

Incandescent...Castro’s debut feature deals with heartache and vulnerability but also shimmers with joy and genuine insight.”

-Variety

Poetic in its musicality. [A] deeply empathetic look at what it means for first-generation Americans to reclaim the right to pursue unpredictable dreams.”

-The New York Times