Sin Pais (Without Country), dir. Theo Rigby

Sin País (Without Country) attempts to get beyond the partisan politics and mainstream media’s ‘talking point’ approach to immigration issues by exploring one family’s complex and emotional journey involving deportation.

In 1992, Sam and Elida Mejia left Guatemala during a violent civil war and brought their one-year old son, Gilbert, to California. The Mejia’s settled in the Bay Area, and for the past 17 years they have worked multiple jobs to support their family, paid their taxes, and saved enough to buy a home. They had two more children, Helen and Dulce, who are both U.S. citizens. Two years ago, immigration agents stormed the Mejia’s house looking for someone who didn’t live there. Sam, Elida, and Gilbert were all undocumented and became deeply entangled in the U.S. immigration system.

Sin País begins two weeks before Sam and Elida’s scheduled deportation date. After a passionate fight to keep the family together, Sam and Elida are deported and take Dulce with them back to Guatemala.

With intimate access and striking imagery, Sin País explores the complexities of the Mejia’s new reality of a separated family–parents without their children, and children without their parents.

http://sinpaisfilm.com/

Que suene la calle (Let the street be heard), dir. Itzel Martínez del Cañizo

Que Suene la Calle

Tuesday, January 17th, Ghandi 303, 7 p.m.

Que suene la calle es un video documental que se adentra en la dinámica de una ciudad como Tijuana, a través de la perspectiva de sus adolescentes que viven en la calle. Cuatro mujeres menores de edad nos cuentan sus historias, nos relatan sus vivencias y comparten con nosotros sus sueños y deseos.
Son ellas quienes toman las cámaras y actúan para mostrarnos su realidad y revivir los momentos más representativos de su vida en pequeñas historias de video. Cada una desde su barrio, desde su espacio personal y urbano, nos adentra a un lado desconocido de esta ciudad fronteriza para hacernos ver la complejidad de crecer y hacerse adulto bajo esas circunstancias.

Director: Itzel Martínez del Cañizo
Producción: Yonke Art, inSite_05, PACMYC, FOECA BC, UABC Escuela de Humanidades, Solo Por Ayudar AC
Año: 2006
País: México

Festivales:
International Documentary Film Festival Ámsterdam (2006), Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia (México 2006), Gira Documental Ambulante (México 2007), Latin American Film Festival Ultrech (Holanda 2007), VIVA 13th Spanish and Latin Film Festival (Manchester 2007), Kosmorama Trondheim International Film Festival (Noruega 2007), Sguardi Altrove Film Festival (Milan 07), Festival Internacional de Mujeres en el Cine y la TV (México 06).

Premios:
Premio del Jurado, San Diego Women Film Festival 2006; Mención Honorífica y Premio Signis de la Comunicación en el Encuentro Hispanoamericano de Documental Contra el Silencio Todas las Voces 2004.

http://revista.cinedocumental.com.ar/2/articulos_04.html

http://www.polenaudiovisual.com/News.html

Señorita Extraviada, Dir. Lourdes Portillo, 2001

Wednesday, January 12, 2011, Game Room, 7 p.m. Soka University of America

Señorita Extraviada, Missing Young Woman tells the story of the hundreds of kidnapped, raped and murdered young women of Juárez, Mexico. The murders first came to light in 1993 and young women continue to "disappear" to this day (2005) without any hope of bringing the perpetrators to justice. Who are these women from all walks of life and why are they getting murdered so brutally?

The documentary moves like the unsolved mystery it is, and the filmmaker poetically investigates the circumstances of the murders and the horror, fear and courage of the families whose children have been taken. Yet it is also the story of a city of the future; it is the story of the underbelly of our global economy.

For more information about the film visit Lourdes Portillo's website:

http://www.lourdesportillo.com/senoritaextraviada/index.html