UNC professor’s film on grandmothers of ‘the disappeared’ debuts Tuesday, Jan. 17

A faculty member’s documentary about Argentinian grandmothers committed to finding the grandchildren they believe were stolen by their country’s government will premiere at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Tuesday, Jan. 17.
The free, public screening of “Las Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo and the Search for Identity,” a film by C.A. Tuggle, a professor in UNC’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, will begin at 7 p.m. in the Carroll Hall auditorium.
At least 10,000—and some estimate as many as 30,000—dissidents of the military dictatorship were kidnapped, tortured and killed during Argentina’s Dirty War from 1976 to 1983. Those kidnapped became known as los desaparecidos or the disappeared. Some of the women were pregnant or new mothers when captured, and infants ended up in homes of people sympathetic to the regime. The babies’ names, birthdates and other identifiers were changed.
“This isn’t something that happened years ago and has no relevance now,” Tuggle said. “The grandmothers continue to find missing grandchildren. This is an ongoing injustice, and it’s ordinary women who are fighting the battle and serving as an example to all of us that we can make a difference.”
The human rights organization Las Abuelas has located more than 100 missing grandchildren, many who had no knowledge of their true identities.
Tuggle’s daughters Brynne Tuggle Miller and Bethany Tuggle Parker, both graduates of the school, served as coordinating producer and writer-editor, respectively, for the documentary.
“Working on this documentary has been a labor of love,” Miller said. “But it’s also been such a rewarding experience to work on telling a story that my family is so passionate about and, in the process, complete a work that we are so proud of.”
Dylan Field, a TV director and producer in the school, served as the film’s audio editor and videographer.
Screenings at universities throughout the United States will follow the premiere.
For more information, visit the website or watch the video clip.