Set in El Paso, Texas during the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s, Siete Infiernos shows how Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe, Inc. came out of the third poorest ZIP code in the United States and sparked the Chicano rights movement. Oscar® winning actor F. Murray Abraham, who grew up in El Paso, is narrating the film while El Paso native Valentin Sandoval is directing.

As Sandoval describes, “Siete Infiernos is not just the first-ever documentary about La Fe, it’s the first to offer strong proof of how El Paso changed Chicano history for the better. The story that we’re telling is a huge part of El Paso’s history, but very few are aware of it.” He is particularly proud of the fact that the film is being made entirely by El Pasoans.

Sandoval’s own background includes film studies at UTEP plus work with acclaimed cinematographer Lee Daniel (Slacker) and Emmy-winning documentarian Paul Espinosa. His first short film “Instrumento” won the first-ever Best Independent Film Award given by UTEP and his company Blackbird Concepts has produced more than 400 commercials that aired on Azteca America and Univision. Other documentaries Sandoval has made include “Outcry in the Barrio” about Freddie Garcia, founder of the internationally recognized addiction recovery center Victory Fellowship, and “Clamor", about young inmates in Chino prison. Sandoval also worked with Teatro Bienestar, the theater arts program educating the El Paso-Juarez border community about social and health issues.

The film’s producer is Lisa Garibay, who moved back home after years of working in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles. She is excited to apply her experience working on so many other films, both big budget and self-funded, to this local documentary. “El Paso has so much talent and so many impactful stories to tell, I just had to move back,” she says. Starting in 1995, Garibay worked with directors like Wes Anderson (Rushmore), Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire), Jon Reiss (Bomb It), and many others while helping emerging filmmakers bring their own award-winning work to life. For her, the most important lesson was how to make the best product with very little. “It’s an ethic that many independent filmmakers follow religiously,” she explains. “And it’s one that is prevalent throughout El Paso culture: don’t be wasteful and do the best with what you have. It has resulted in amazing achievements.”

The history of La Fe proves how successful this mode of operation can be and Siete Infiernos will finally spotlight a healthcare and community wellness model so progressive that it has become a beacon of hope for populations throughout North America. The way that La Fe incorporates art and culture into preventative healthcare, from presenting one-act plays to painting murals, is an approach that education and outreach organizations of all kinds can learn from.

But the story means much more than that for Sandoval and the millions of potential viewers he believes will respond positively to Siete Infiernos. “La Fe embodies the American dream,” he says. “It’s a positive example of the immigrant experience, proving how non-Americans integrate into the fiber of America and contribute in very real ways to a better quality of life within the U.S.” Given so much political, economic and human rights debate about the border, a film like this is very timely.

Abraham—who won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1985 for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus—came on board the film expressly due to the bigger picture that Siete Infiernos is working to make viewers aware of. "This worthy project will help the Pass of the North stand as a shining example of how two cultures can intertwine to create a third one, with the best qualities of both strengthening each other,” says Abraham. “For me, growing up in El Paso actually meant growing up in Juarez as well. There was a time when my friends, who were nearly all Chicanos, included families living in Juarez at whose homes I felt as welcome as a relative. I believe it is a great tragedy to separate Mexico and the U.S."

Siete Infiernos takes its name from a Segundo Barrio tenement complex known as “seiz infiernos”—the six Hells. The seventh “Hell” was having to live in one of them. Because its residents were of Mexican decent during a time of rampant discrimination against African Americans and Mexican Americans, this neighborhood was literally cordoned off from emergency and basic health care. La Fe began in response to these injustices, helping to start a nationwide movement of civil rights for all Mexican Americans. This history encompasses the struggle for human rights by a group of people fighting a life-and-death battle just as critical as that of the African American community. What’s more, that battle was set in an immigrant portal as significant as New York or Miami, but one that has been largely ignored to date—the city of El Paso.

The makers of Siete Infiernos are working hard to make sure their film gets seen by as many people as possible not just to spread the word about La Fe but to also show the world all that El Paso has accomplished. They are working to have the film finished in time for submission to the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010, have contacted PBS to discuss airing the film on television, and will also present many screenings throughout El Paso and the Paso del Norte region.

It is very important to the filmmakers that they are also offering job training and career opportunities in film and media to fellow El Pasoans. “We’re inviting Segundo Barrio to really be a part of the making of this movie and learn how to preserve their history,” says Sandoval. The production is employing locals for crew positions spanning administration, camera operation, editing, marketing and publicity, and more. “The point is to give El Pasoans the skills and tools they need to tell their own stories, whether documentary or fiction, rather than outsiders always being the ones to put our city and people on the big screen, quite often erroneously,” says Garibay.

Now that they’re in the thick of making the film, working hard on conducting hundreds of interviews and researching archival photos, the filmmakers are actively seeking support from area organizations, businesses and arts supporters. “It’s the chance for El Pasoans to get behind something very special, something they can be proud of,” says Sandoval. Garibay points out that through partnership with the nonprofit organization Filmmakers Alliance, they are able to offer donors a tax deduction plus special benefits including credit on the film.

“This isn’t just about making art in El Paso,” says Garibay. “It’s about El Paso as a leader in many different areas. Issues that the rest of the country and many parts of the world are just starting to deal with— like immigration, multiculturalism, bilingualism—are what El Paso has already been through.” Sandoval adds, “We have the power to guide the world, because its future is our past.”


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This story was originally published in the April 2009 issue of El Paso Magazine available on newsstands at area Barnes & Noble stores.