La Lucha Sigue
About the Film
La Lucha Sigue is a short animated documentary that centers three immigrant rights leaders who work to shut down the Berks Detention Center in Pennsylvania, one of three prisons nationwide that had detained immigrant children and families.
Director: Melissa Beatriz
Producers: Shannon Sun-Higginson, Shoes Off Media
United States // 2026 // Documentary, Animation // Los Shorts
21 minutes
About the Filmmaker
Melissa Beatriz is an Uruguayan American documentary filmmaker, cultural producer, and researcher whose work focuses on the intersection of social justice, media arts/culture, and policy. She is the Founder/Director of Actívate Stories, a media arts entity that produces collaborative documentaries, engages in cultural preservation, and develops creative strategies focused on art and social change.
Melissa Beatriz is a first time independent director, with two soon-to-be released short documentary films, La Lucha Sigue and Philly Rumba. She is a 2025 Leeway Media Artist + Activist in Residence at the People’s Budget Office, 2025 Flaherty Film Seminar Fellow, 2022 Al Día 40 Under 40 honoree, 2019 Leeway Transformation Awardee, and 2020 Fellow of the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) Leadership Institute. Her independent media work has been supported by Scribe Video Center, ARTisPHL, Lenfest Institute for Journalism, People’s Media Fund, Velocity Fund, Doc Society: Good Pitch Local Philadelphia, Leeway Foundation, Double Exposure Scholars program, and Sundance Institute’s New Frontier Philadelphia Day Lab.
