women in immigration documentary denied visas to U.S.

[villager]

this is a press release sent out in conjunction with the SXSW film festival in Austin...

Women featured in immigration documentary denied visas; can not attend SXSW screenings

"A much-needed examination of the collateral damage of illegal immigration ...
sensitive ... effective and emotionally potent."
- John Anderson, Variety

After successful screenings and reviews at Slamdance, LETTERS FROM THE OTHER SIDE
will be screening at the 2006 SXSW Film Festival beginning March 10, although the
women featured in the documentary will not be able to attend. The U.S. Consulate in
Mexico City has denied their visa applications, despite letters from the director of
the film, SXSW, and assistance from Congressman Lloyd Doggett’s office.

“Unfortunately, the failed attempt to get visas for the women in my film echoes some
of the themes of the film which is how difficult it is for a Mexican to be able to
enter this country legally. It’s nearly impossible,” says the film’s director
Heather Courtney.

LETTERS FROM THE OTHER SIDE interweaves video letters carried across the U.S.-Mexico
border by the film's director with the personal stories of women left behind in
post-NAFTA Mexico.

In one video letter exchange, a U.S. Homeland Security official watches a video of
Laura, a Mexican woman whose husband died in 2003 along with 18 others in the worst
immigrant smuggling case in U.S. history. "How many more deaths does it take for
the U.S. government to do something?" she asks.

Director Heather Courtney interacts with her subjects through her unobtrusive
camera, providing an intimate look at the lives of the people most affected by
today's immigration and trade policies. Her use of video letters provides a way for
these women to communicate with both loved ones and strangers on the other side of
the border, and illustrates how as an American she can carry these video letters
back and forth across a border that these women are not legally allowed to cross.
The immigration debate is heating up again, with the U.S. House recently passing a
bill that includes building 700 miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.

By focusing on a side of the immigration story rarely told by the media or touched upon
in our national debate, LETTERS offers a fresh perspective, painting a complex
portrait of families torn apart by economics, communities dying at the hands of
globalization, and governments incapable or unwilling to do anything about it.

LETTERS FROM THE OTHER SIDE is a co-production of Front Porch Films and
KERA-Dallas/Fort Worth, in association with the Independent Television Service
(ITVS).

[villager]

1. one morning kick...

n/t