UNAFF 2019: Films: Councilwoman

COUNCILWOMAN
(55 min) US

SUNDAY 10/20, 4:15 PM (SESSION 8)

Director: Margo Guernsey
Producers: Patricia Benabe, Margo Guernsey

Description:

Politicians aren’t often full-time hotel housekeepers, union members, grandmothers, and immigrants working service jobs. But Carmen Castillo changes that when she wins a seat on the City Council in Providence, Rhode Island. Carmen Castillo is a Dominican City councilwoman who maintains her job cleaning hotel rooms, as she takes on her new role in politics. She faces skeptics who say she doesn’t have the education to govern, the power of corporate interests who take a stand against her fight for a $15/hourly wage in the City, and a tough re-election against two contenders—all of this while balancing the challenges of managing a full-time job cleaning hotel rooms, and a personal relationship. It’s a journey behind the scenes of politics after the victory.

Biography:

Margo Guernsey began her film career in 2010 as a producer at WPBT2 (Miami). Councilwoman is her first feature documentary. Since 2012 she has worked freelance as a director and producer of short videos for local organizations in the Boston area. Over the past twenty years, Margo has worked as a union organizer, non-profit development director, Spanish/English translator and media instructor, always building multi-racial collaborations across class lines to inform the work of building a more just society. She holds an MFA in film (University of Miami), MA in history (Umass/Amherst), BA in history (Brown University), and is a Tribeca/Camden/CNNFilms Retreat alumni.

Contact information:

w: www.councilwomanfilm.com/
e: coshea@wmm.com