Indocumentales Film Series
Introduction to the Project
This project uses documentaries as a means to engage wide audience interest in a complex topic, such as immigration. The five-week outreach effort was a partnership between LACIS (Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies) and the Memorial Library, at the University of Wisconsin. Screenings of films and discussion sessions were combined with a "History of Mexican/US immigration and border issues" exhibit open to the campus. The Ibero-American Studies Librarian curated the exhibit and created an online research guide (available via web) covering two-hundred years of immigration. A promotional effort was added to attract a target audience of K-12 teachers, UW students and faculty, community activists, public opinion leaders and the general public. Indocumentales (5 documentaries and a resource guide), was developed by CLACS at New York University in collaboration with advocacy NGOs. Which Way Home?, focused on child workers attempting to enter the US, while, Los Que Se Quedan, looked at the Mexican families left behind. Other films such as, Al Otro Lado and Farmingville, examined hot-button topics like, drugs, immigration laws, and fights between groups seeking to remove undocumented workers from communities. Each screening was followed by a discussion with special guests including academics, immigration lawyers and community activists. A salient theme of the five-week period was that each documentary introduced a complex issue using a thoughtful story a wider audience could digest. We believe this contributed to a more constructive discussion while providing valuable data to the audience. The dialogues were taped and edited for analysis (This footage can be viewed in the video player above).
Farmingville (October 20th, 2010)
Directors: Carlos Sandoval and Catherine Tambini
Production: US, 2004
Length: 78 min. (In Spanish and English with English subtitles)
This timely and powerful film is more than a story about undocumented immigration. Ultimately it challenges viewers to ask what the "American dream" really means.
Post-screening discussion panel: Shamina de Gonzaga, co-founder of the organization "what moves you"; UW Assistant Professor Jill Harrison, Community and Environmental Sociology; LACIS Associate Director, Alberto Vargas; and Paloma Celis-Carbajal, Bibliographer for the Latin American, Caribbean & Iberian Collection at Memorial Library.
Click here for a program guide!
Al Otro Lado (October 27th, 2010)
Director: Natalia Almada
Production: US/Mexico, 2005
Length: 66 min. (In Spanish with English subtitles)
Al Otro Lado explores the world of drug smuggling, immigration and the corrido music that chronicles it all.
Post-screening discussion panel: Attorney Huma Ahsan; Jorge F. Rodriguez, PhD candidate in Curriculum and Instruction, School of Education, UW-Madison and Member and Founder of Son Mudanza; Alfonso Zepeda-Capistrán, Migrant Education Program, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction; and Alberto Vargas, Associate Director, LACIS.
Click here for a program guide!
Which Way Home? (November 3rd, 2010)
Director: Rebecca Cammisa
Production: 2009
Length: 83 min. (In Spanish with English subtitles)
The film follows several unaccompanied child migrants as they journey through Mexico en route to the U.S. on a freight train they call "The Beast." Director Rebecca Cammisa (Sister Helen) tracks the stories of children like Olga and Freddy, nine-year-old Hondurans who are desperately trying to reach their families in Minnesota, and Jose, a ten-year-old El Salvadoran who has been abandoned by smugglers and ends up alone in a Mexican detention center, and focuses on Kevin, a canny, streetwise 14-year-old Honduran, whose mother hopes that he will reach New York City and send money back to his family. These are stories of hope and courage, disappointment and sorrow.
This film will be followed by a discussion with Immigration by Lawyer Stacy Taeuber, and Alberto Vargas, Associate Director of LACIS.
Post-film discussion panel: Immigration Lawyer Stacy Taeuber, and Alberto Vargas, Associate Director of LACIS.
Click here for a program guide!
Mi Vida Dentro (November 10th, 2010)
Director: Lucía Gajá
Production: Mexico, 2007
Length: 120 min. (In Spanish and English with English subtitles)
"In January 2003, 21-year-old Rosa Estela Olvera Jiménez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico working as a nanny in Austin, Texas, is brought to trial for the homicide of 21-month-old Bryan Guttierez, a young boy who died under mysterious circumstances while in her care. The Prosecution is relentless in its demonization of Jiménez, a soft-spoken mother of two who was working to one day buy her mother a house and build a better life for herself in the land of opportunity. With a sweeping, lyrical focus, the film encompasses the obstacles, prejudices and Sisyphean struggles faced by many Mexican migrant workers who leave their lives behind to pursue the American dream. A powerful and heart-wrenching documentary, "My Life Inside alternates between tense courtroom drama and moving personal profile, providing a cautionary tale about the experience of outsiders in the United States." – Hotdocs.
Click here for a program guide!
Los Que Se Quedan (November 17th, 2010)
Director: Carlos Hagerman
Production: Mexico, 2008
Length: 96 min. (In Spanish with English subtitles)
"Those Who Remain shines a light on the families left behind by loved ones who have traveled North for work, while also illuminating the rich glow of the Mexican spirit. With great balance and sensitivity, this intimate documentary follows a number of families who each share their stories, ranging from the American Dream to heartbreakingly tragedy." – L.A. Film Festival.
Post-screening discussion panel: Ruben Medina, Chair of the Department of Spanish & Portuguese; and Alberto Vargas, Associate Director of LACIS.
Click here for a program guide!
