South Arts: Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers | Backside

Join us for a screening of Backside followed by a conversation with the filmmaker, Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana.

Backside offers an intimate portrait of the migrant workers who endure long hours and often dangerous working conditions year-round to prepare polished horses for “two minutes of glory.”

With the support of an all Latinx team of talented filmmakers and groom experts, Backside took five years to make. The film peels back the layers of Churchill Downs’ barns in Louisville, Kentucky, known as the “backside,” patiently revealing the symbiotic relationship between human and animal labor. Across a full racing season, the expertise and grit of the workers are juxtaposed against the wealth and pageantry of the Derby, exposing entrenched disparities of race and class that remain very much a part of the fabric of the United States.

In its essence, Backside is an ode—to the working class, and most profoundly, to the immigrant workers who quietly sustain this country. In today’s political climate, immigrants are often dehumanized and blamed for the poverty, violence and declining living conditions in our country, ills we did not create. Backside invites viewers to look beyond these incendiary words, to meet the people whose stories are rarely told. It asks audiences to witness their lives, their dignity, their resilience—and, in doing so, to reflect on the vital role immi-grants play in our communities.