Award-winning filmmaker and human rights activist Barbara Martinez Jitner will deliver Alma Mater Productions’ fall 2026 Atwater Lecture on Nov. 5 in the Sadler Center’s Commonwealth Auditorium.
The event is free to students, faculty and staff with a William & Mary ID and $10 for the general public at the door. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the lecture begins at 7 p.m. An audience Q&A will follow.
Martinez Jitner is widely known for her documentary “La Frontera,” in which she posed as a factory worker to uncover the violence and poverty being experienced by people in Juarez, Mexico, including the murders of more than 400 women. Jennifer Lopez’s 2006 political thriller “Bordertown” was inspired by the film.
Martinez Jitner is the first Latina to be nominated for both a Golden Globe and Emmy in the miniseries category. The nominations stemmed from her work as a writer and executive producer on “American Family: Journey of Dreams.”
She began her career as an award-winning documentarian by producing Showtime’s “An American Tapestry.”
The event is sponsored by AMP and made possible with generous support from the Janet and Peter Atwater Lecture Endowment.
Staff, University News & Media