Let the Street Be Heard

Teenage girls film their own lives on the streets of Tijuana

Let the Street Be Heard is a Mexican documentary directed by Itzel Martínez del Cañizo that explores life in the border city of Tijuana through the voices of teenage girls living on the streets. Filmed over three years, the documentary is built around the experiences of four girls aged between 13 and 17, who share their stories, fears, memories and aspirations directly with the camera.

The film adopts a participatory approach in which the protagonists themselves operate the cameras, recording fragments of their daily lives and reenacting key moments from their personal histories. Each girl films from her own neighbourhood and personal environment, offering multiple perspectives on the urban and social landscape of Tijuana. Their testimonies reveal the complexities of growing up in conditions marked by poverty, exclusion and vulnerability in a city shaped by its border dynamics.

Through these first person accounts, the documentary constructs a social portrait of adolescence in marginalised areas of Tijuana, highlighting issues such as survival, identity and the passage into adulthood. The film was produced independently by the director with the collaboration of local filmmakers and shot entirely on location in Tijuana, with a focus on its most disadvantaged areas.

Let the Street Be Heard premiered at the Morelia International Film Festival in 2003, where it was part of the official selection, and was subsequently screened at festivals and cultural venues in Mexico and internationally, including exhibitions in the United States.