Ipas > Cinemax Latin America to air ‘Rosita’

Cinemax Latin America to air ‘Rosita’

Film follows 9-year-old rape victim’s abortion ordeal

July 17, 2006

Nine-year-old Nicaraguan rape survivor “Rosita” (shown in a self-portrait) became the center of a global firestorm when her parents fought to obtain a legal abortion after she was impregnated by her attacker.

“Rosita”* was like any other 9-year-old; she liked school, drawing and playing with her friends. But her innocence was shattered the day she was raped on the way to school.

Rosita became pregnant as a result of the attack, and this one little girl’s life became an international controversy, especially in Costa Rica, where her parents were migrant workers, and their native Nicaragua. When Rosita’s parents sought a legal abortion to end this life-threatening pregnancy, they hit a wall of opposition from the Roman Catholic Church, the medical establishment and right-leaning politicians.

Filmmakers Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater’s hourlong documentary, “Rosita,” shows the family caught in a tug of war to protect their daughter — and to allow her to remain a child and not a mother — against anti-abortion forces who try to wrest Rosita from their control and force her to bear her attacker’s child.

Beginning July 21, “Rosita” will be shown on the Cinemax Latin America channel, extending into August in some locations. It debuted in 2005 and has been shown in film festivals across the United States, including the 2006 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival. It has aired on some cable television channels in Europe, but this is the first major distribution of “Rosita” in the Western Hemisphere.

There will be multiple screenings throughout the region; times vary. Visit Cinemax Latin America’s website , and select your country to search local listings.

*Not her real name.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258