WORDS MARCIE BIANCO
Southwest Of Salem: The Story Of The San Antonio Four is a testament to the power of art. Out lesbian director Deborah Esquenazi’s true-crime documentary, which premiered last spring at the Tribeca Film Festival, garnered waves of critical acclaim and catalysed the effective grassroots activism that led to the recent exoneration of the four falsely-accused Latina lesbians at the centre of the story.
Elizabeth “Liz” Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra “Cassie” Rivera and Anna Vasquez spent half of their lives trying to extricate themselves from the sinister quicksand of America’s criminal justice system. Esquenazi’s film documents the trial, incarceration and journey to exoneration of these four women, who came to be known in the American media as the “San Antonio Four”.