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
Sundance Film Festival
2022
Doris Muñoz desperately longed for better representation in the indie music she listened to as a teenager. At 23, she took matters into her own hands and began a career in music talent management, passionately advocating for rising Latinx artists. Her swift success transformed her into a pillar for a community of first- and second-generation Americans seeking collective acceptance and healing through song. When Doris receives news that forces her to reconsider working in music, she finds Jacks Haupt, an auspicious young singer eager to break out of her parent’s home in Dallas, Texas. Beyond the sweet moments of joy, glitter, and hope, Doris and Jacks share the ever-present guilt of being the first American-born members of their undocumented families. For them, the pressure of financial success is heightened because it facilitates green card processing and family reunification.
Mija is an immensely emotional and intimate portrait honoring the resilience of immigrants and their children. Director Isabel Castro’s debut feature constructs an ethereal love letter to their indomitable spirit in the face of constant instability, and heartily affirms that all humans have the right to shine and to dream.
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.”
“Incandescent...Castro’s debut feature deals with heartache and vulnerability but also shimmers with joy and genuine insight.”