'Missing in Brooks County' Makes World Premiere, Screens at Two Film Festivals

With a world premiere screening and ongoing appearances at two film festivals already under its belt, it's safe to say that Missing in Brooks County has entered the international film festival circuit with a bang.

Co-directed by Jeff Bemiss and Lisa Molomot, and backed by the team at Engel Entertainment's Documentary Film Division, Missing in Brooks County premiered to a virtual audience of attendees on October 9th as part of the 2020 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. Now approaching its 29th year as the oldest all-documentary festival in North America and one of the longest running non-fiction festivals in the world, the HSDFF remains a prominent champion and protector of the documentary film genre.

This year's virtual/drive-In hybrid edition of HSDFF festival featured a rich lineup of 110 films (50 feature-length, and 60 shorts) representing 30 countries. After making its world premiere at HSDFF, the film will remain available for streaming on the festival's virtual platform until October 17th.

In addition to its inaugural appearance at HSDFF, Missing in Brooks County was also selected to participate in this year's Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival where it will be available for streaming from October 14th to 18th.

Double Exposure, a project of the investigative news organization 100Reporters, celebrates the finest new films inspired by the investigative instinct. Now in its sixth year, it combines film screenings for the public with a professional symposium for journalists and visual storytellers.

It casts this vital body of work toward recognition as a coherent artistic vision and connects audience appreciation for creative output to the rights of reporters and filmmakers to pursue investigations in the public interest.

About Missing in Brooks County

As the national debate over immigration policy simmers to a boil, its practical consequences are felt every day in Brooks County, Texas. Located 70 miles north of the border with Mexico, it is the site of an estimated 3000 deaths since 2008, as migrants try to circumvent the state's busiest interior immigration checkpoint and find themselves lost in the vast private ranch lands that surround it.  

Missing in Brooks County follows the journey of two families who have come to Brooks County to look for their loved ones who went missing. As they search for answers, they encounter a haunted land where death is a part of everyday life. A gripping documentary mystery, it is also a deeply humane portrait of the law enforcement agents, human rights workers, and activists who come face to face with the life and death consequences of a broken system.  

Missing in Brooks County is currently screening at film festivals across the country and will have its broadcast premiere on the PBS series Independent Lens in fall 2021.

Missing in Brooks County is funded by ITVS, Fork Films, and Engel Entertainment, with additional funding from Perspective Fund, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, the LEF Foundation, the University of Arizona Office of Research & Discovery, Human Rights POV,  UA Hanson Film Institute, the Connecticut Office of the Arts, MountainFilm, and the University of Arizona College of Fine Arts. Fiscal sponsorship by the International Documentary Association.