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Borderland | The Line Within

The United States border is not just a geographical location - the border is everywhere.

by

Year Released

2024

Film Length(s)

110 mins

Closed captioning available

Remote video URL

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Introduction

There is a war on immigrants. A massive surveillance, militarized and carceral apparatus has been built to capture, imprison and deport millions. But in the shadow of this border industrial-complex, immigrants are building a rights movement envisioning a future rooted in human connection and the sanctity of life.

Synopsis

The United States border is not just a geographic location. The border is everywhere. It lies within every undocumented immigrant family with the threat that at any moment they can be captured, incarcerated, deported; their lives destroyed. Borderland l The Line Within not only exposes the profitable business of immigration and its human cost, but weaves together the stories of immigrant heroines and heroes resisting and showing a way forward, intent on building a movement in the shadow of the border industrial complex, recognizing the human rights of all.

Director Commentary

Borderland l The Line Within is a critique of my country’s inhumane treatment of people arriving in the U.S. It’s about the use of immigration as a gateway to fascist ideology and political power. I’ve been making films internationally for the past 20 years but feel it is important to have a critique of my own country now. I searched among Americans finding creative ways to resist the cruelty of our immigration policies, but instead I found a dynamic movement growing among undocumented immigrants to organize, educate themselves, demand their rights and become a force. Weaving the story together by scraping the web and invoking the Freedom of Information Act, I chose a trio of experimental digital humanists artfully exposing the business of immigration, a multibillion-dollar system to stop people from crossing the border, incarcerate them and deport them. Making this film would take five years.

Features and Languages

Film Features

Closed Captioning
Subtitles

Film/Audio Languages

English
Spanish

Subtitle/Caption Languages

English
Spanish

Subject Areas

Immigration and Border Studies

Latino/Latina Studies

Native American and Indigenous Studies

Audience

College/University

High School

Official Website

Social Media for this Film

Filmmakers

Paco de Onis

Paco de Onís grew up in several Latin American countries and is multi-lingual. He most recently released Granito (world premiere at Sundance 2011), a documentary detective story focused on the role of filmic and archival documentation in the prosecution of a genocide case against Guatemalan generals, and launching Granito: Every Memory Matters, a companion mixed media project developed at the BAVC Producer’s Institute 2010.

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Pamela Yates

Pamela Yates is the Co-founder and Creative Director of Skylight, a non-profit company dedicated to creating feature length documentary films and digital media tools that advance awareness of human rights and the quest for justice by implementing multi-year outreach campaigns designed to engage, educate and activate social change.

Contact Filmmaker View Profile

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