My American Girls
In intimate, vivid detail, My American Girls captures the joys and struggles over a year in the lives of the Ortiz family, first generation immigrants from the Dominican Republic. Matthews’ film captures the rewards – and costs – of pursuing the American dream. From hard-working parents, who imagine retiring to their rural homeland, to fast-tracking American-born daughters, caught between their parent’s values and their own, the film encompasses the contradictions of contemporary immigrant life.
Funded by POV, The Brooklyn Arts Council, Latino Public Broadcasting. Distribution on PBS’s POV. Screened at several festivals including San Francisco Latino Film Festival, New York Latino Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, Human Rights Watch Int’l Film Festival and Chicago Latino Film Festival, and Taos Talking Pictures Film Festival.