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‘Backyard’ (‘El Traspatio’): Mexico’s Academy Award entry for foreign-language films

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Mexico’s latest entry in the Academy Awards’ foreign-language film category is a fictionalized account of the unsolved rapes and murders of hundreds of women in the violent border town of Ciudad Juarez called ‘Backyard’ (‘El Traspatio’).

The film is being talked about by many in Mexico as an overdue, important look at the phenomenon of woman killing. The filmmakers decided Ciudad Juarez, which copes with all types of real-life violence including bloodshed related to drug cartels, was a scary but perfect place for their cast and crew to pull off the project.

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The movie, distributed in Mexico by Paramount, apparently has not picked up a U.S. distributor. It’s been screened at a couple of film festivals and for academy audiences.

For a behind-the-scenes look at what it took to make the film, check out Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson’s article here.

-- Efrain Hernandez Jr.

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