Erin Ploss-Campoamor

Marthas is a PBS documentary about an extraordinary rite of passage in Laredo, Texas where teenage Mexican-American girls debut in a grand Colonial Ball dressed as American revolutionaries - a tradition that goes back 114 years.

Luciela is six years old and loves her Papi. Her favorite holiday is the 4th of July because every year her Papi throws a huge party. He does one of the best firework shows in Lincoln Heights —their Latinx, immigrant neighborhood in Los Angeles. But this year he can’t, because he’s been deported. So she decides to set off a few sparks of her own.

After 20 years of chronicling his Puerto Rican family, a director and his mother face devastating losses. Through tears and laughter, they craft animations that bring their loved ones back to life, discovering that every act of creation is also an act of letting go.