Help us Kickstart our film!

Hi everyone,

 

Last week marked two big milestones for this documentary.

 

June 25th was our four year anniversary of the first time we met Jessica!  And in that time since, we’ve gathered nearly 300 hours of footage of Jessica, her family and her legal team’s tireless efforts to bring greater awareness to the reforms that are desperately needed to combat the domestic violence epidemic in our country.

 

Now, we need your help to get this story out there.  We’ve just launched a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter!  You can donate a little, or a lot, to help us start editing the film, and receive some exciting rewards in return!

 

Please check out our campaign at the link below, where you’ll be able to see a special message from the directors and some exclusive footage from our documentary.  We’d be so grateful if you would donate whatever you can, pass the link around to friends, Tweet about it, post the link to your own Facebook wall, Like our page on Facebook, and subscribe to our e-newsletter!

 

Thanks a million for all of the support, and more exciting updates to come very soon.

Gratefully,
April, Katia and Nina

2011 – A Year in Review

Jessica, her brother JJ and attorney Carrie Bettinger-Lopez, along with advocates who have worked on her case, at Cardozo School of Law in NYC

 

With the launch of our new website, we’ve had the opportunity to reflect on our busy 2011. There were so many exciting developments in Jessica’s lawsuit, resulting in one of the biggest milestones yet, of course—a decision in Jessica’s favor from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on her case.

 

Yet among the many accomplishments was the indescribable loss of Jessica’s mother and stalwart supporter, Tina Rivera, last spring. Tina’s energy, passion and unending determination will always be remembered, and her spirit is constantly with us. We are at a loss to describe the sadness of her passing. She will be incredibly missed by her family, friends, and fellow advocates.

 

Here’s a look back at 2011:

Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to our blog!

For the last 3 1/2 years, we have been working on a documentary film about the remarkable Jessica Lenahan (formerly Gonzales), her ever-inspiring family, and the international community of lawyers, activists, and supporters who have followed her groundbreaking journey for justice and healing. We are thrilled to now get this story out to an even larger audience!

 

While the film is still in production, we want to begin to interact with more of you, to share stories, photos, and footage from what we’ve shot so far, to update you on the latest news involving the pressing issues in this film, and to hear from you—your own stories and experiences, and your take on Jessica’s story and lawsuit.

 

Jessica represents millions of women, children, and men in this country and beyond its borders, who are touched by the epidemic of domestic abuse and violence against women in their daily lives. Even in the wake of her own immeasurable personal tragedy, Jessica has fought for 12 long years to raise awareness on these issues, to hold law enforcement and government officials accountable to their mandate of protecting all of us from these crimes, and to educate the public that freedom from domestic violence is our human right.

 

We hope that our documentary will continue the dialogue about these issues, and be a tool for this community working every day to reform policy and practice on violence against women in the U.S. and throughout the world.

We would love to hear from you! Please feel free to get in touch with us any time at info AT jessicagonzalesvsunitedstates DOT com

 

Thanks to all of you for being interested in Jessica’s story! We look forward to getting to know you all.

-April Hayes and Katia Maguire