Vicky Funari

Her latest film, Maquilapolis documents the lives of Carmen and Lourdes, two workers at a maquiladora, massive sweatshops just over the border in Tijuana, Mexico, often owned by the world's largest multinational corporations. These women are able to offer personal perspectives on the story of globalization as they struggle to survive in the grueling life of a globalized city while becoming their own activists by co-authoring their own stories on videotape.

Funari also produced, directed and edited the acclaimed non-fiction feature film Paulina, which has screened in over 30 of the world's most prestigious film festivals, including Sundance, Locarno, Havana and Amsterdam. Funari spent part of her childhood in Mexico, where the future protagonist of Paulina was her family's maid. The film was born out of a visit to her childhood home and a reunion with Paulina.

Among numerous awards, Paulina, received a Grand Jury Prize at the 1998 San Francisco International Film Festival and Lifetime Television's Vision Award at the 1998 Hamptons Film Festival. Paulina, aired on the Sundance Channel in 2000.

Most recently, Funari co-directed and edited the documentary Live Nude Girls Unite!, a fierce and funny account of the first successful strippers' union in the country. This film premiered at the 2000 SXSW Film Festival, won a Golden Spire and the Audience Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival, enjoyed a national theatrical release, aired on Cinemax in 2001, and is now in home video release on both VHS and DVD.

Funari also produced and directed Skin-Es-The-Si-A, an award-winning short experimental work which explores the cultural codification of the female body through images from performance art and pornography. Skin-Es-The-Si-A, has screened at festivals on three continents, including the Oberhausen Short Film Festival. From 1996 - 2000, Funari served on the Board of Directors of the Latino media arts organization Cine Accion.