Sanctuary Cinema Present Bodily Autonomy & Reproductive Justice
Where and when
Location
Join Sanctuary Cinema, in collaboration with POV, PBS, and NMPBS, for a community screening of segments from two films streaming on the PBS App — On the Divide & To the Future, with Love
On the Divide 40 min excerpt of 80 min film
by Maya Cueva and Leah Galant
ON THE DIVIDE follows the stories of three Latinx people living in McAllen, Texas, home to the last reproductive health clinic on the U.S./Mexico border. The clinic sits at the center of ongoing tensions between religious protesters seeking to stop patients from entering and the security staff determined to protect access. Although Mercedes, Rey, and Denisse hold differing views on abortion, none fit neatly into the categories of pro-life or pro-choice. As threats to the clinic and their personal safety escalate, each is forced to make unforeseen choices that challenge their beliefs and reshape their lives. Going beyond the clinic walls, ON THE DIVIDE explores the complex realities of a community with limited healthcare options, revealing that the abortion debate is far more nuanced than it often appears and asking what it means to compromise deeply held convictions in order to survive.
To The Future, With Love 7 min
by Shaleece Haas
Meet 19-year-old Hunter “Pixel” Jimenez, a nonbinary trans boy caught between the expectations of his Guatemalan immigrant family and his dreams of living happily ever after.
Agenda
- 5:30PM: Doors/Dinner
- 6:00PM: Film Screening
- 7:00PM: Panel + Discussion
About Sanctuary Cinema
Founded in 2025 by shiloh burton and Luis Peña-Alvarez, Sanctuary Cinema (SC) is a New Mexico–based nonfiction film and community dialogue project dedicated to creating brave spaces for belonging, reflection, and transformative justice through documentary film. Anchored in narrative sovereignty, SC screens stories told by those most impacted, honoring lived experience as essential knowledge and rejecting passive spectatorship by fostering audience engagement, collective storytelling, and civic action.
The free, monthly series activates accessible public venues across Albuquerque, pairing POV/PBS films with facilitated panels, local filmmakers, cultural workers, nonprofit partners, and audience participation. By bridging artistic, civic, and community worlds, Sanctuary Cinema builds trust, strengthens relationships, and provides pathways for meaningful local engagement. Sanctuary Cinema uses documentary film as a catalyst for collective care, collaboration, and community-led change.
About POV PBS (co-collaborator)
POV (a cinema term for “point of view”) is television's longest-running showcase for independent nonfiction films. POV premieres 14-16 of the best, boldest and most innovative programs every year on PBS. Since 1988, POV has presented over 500 films to public television audiences across the country.
About PBS (sponsor)
PBS offers programming that expands the minds of children, documentaries that open up new worlds, non-commercialized news programs that keep citizens informed on world events and cultures and programs that expose America to the worlds of music, theater, dance and art. It is a multi-platform media organization that serves Americans through television, mobile and connected devices, the web, in the classroom, and more.
About First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque (location)
Our Mission Covenant We, the members of First Unitarian, agree to:
• Promote the spiritual, intellectual, and personal growth of each member
• Minister to each other in an atmosphere of welcome, acceptance, and caring
• Be a positive force for social, environmental, and economic action
• Promote the wider understanding of our purposes and principles in the larger community
• Provide a dynamic religious education program for all ages
To these ends, we declare our commitment to the health and vitality of this liberal religious community.