UNAFF Documentaries

Next date: Saturday, July 12, 2025 | 04:00 PM to 05:45 PM

United Nations Affairs Film Festival presents three short documentaries.

Death on a Friendly Border, 26 minutes. Since the mid-1990s when the United States began militarizing its southern border, an average of one person a day has died crossing into our country. "Death on a Friendly Border" puts a human face on this international tragedy. We hear the story of one woman's journey from her impoverished village in Mexico into the US desert with her 18 month old baby. And we hear the stories of the migrants, the Border Patrol agents and the activists for whom the militarization of the border has become the governing reality of their lives.

Dreams Awake, Seven minutes. In his film is a meditation on the immigrant experience through the life and poetry of Doroteo Garcia, a Mexican immigrant, father, janitor, union activist, and poet. Like countless Mexican immigrants, Doroteo came to the United States to make a better life for his family, leaving behind his sons in the process. What was meant to be a short separation turned into more than a decade. To deal with his loneliness, Doroteo turned to poetry to express himself. To deal with the invisibility of immigrant workers, he became a union activist.

Without a Country, 21 minutes. "Undocumented immigrant" and "US citizen" are often polarizing phrases that carry a charged set of assumptions and stereotypes. The filmWithout 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 Mejias settled in Marin County and for the past seventeen years they have worked multiple jobs to support their family, pay their taxes and save enough to buy a home. They had two more children, Helen and Dulce, who are both US citizens. Two years ago, immigration agents stormed the Mejias' house looking for someone who didn't live there. Sam, Elida, and Gilbert were all undocumented and became deeply entangled in the US immigration system. After a passionate fight to keep the family together, Sam and Elida were deported. They returned to Guatemala, taking Dulce with them.

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