Mexican Immigration Movies, Production Notes from the Director, Dan Glynn

-These notes are a string of random thoughts that do not follow any true sequence.  I have done this on purpose in the hopes that you will read them all to get to the good stuff about my undocumented Mexican immigration documentary.

-One night I was filming, with my camera lighting covered with fire resistant paper.  The paper caught on fire, and fell on the carpet in Jairo’s house in the USA.  One family member very calmly walked over and stamped it out as if this were normal, while I panicked.

-In the Shadows is a film about migrants that hope to find a job working in America making  more money to send home to Mexico It began as an idea in 2002, and I ended up following the lives of a family that had crossed the border for work in the USA.

-This film takes a very personal look at the lives of a large family of migrants from the Mexican jungle over five years.  It explores why undocumented immigration is still such a major matter of controversy in both Mexico and America.  You can enjoy watching “In the Shadows” free on Kanopy.com (Closed captioned in English)

– I often found myself up to my ankles in cow dung, finding its place on my filming rig or my face.  Quite a few items of clothing were left behind on the farm as well as a few dung coated camera parts.  The most fun I had was shooting “dolly” shots standing in the back of a pickup truck in the winter in upstate NY.

-My passion for making a Mexican immigration movie began through talks with a dairy farmer who employs Mexican workers. Most are from the same village in Mexico.  This is common on many farms in the United States.  The farm owner’s stories about his workers crossing the Mexican-American frontier grabbed my mind.  He told me about the risky conditions that “undocumented” or “illegal”  workers face.

-While I made this Mexican immigration film, I watched many immigration documentaries. I then made up my mind to make this film.  I spent over five years part-time on the farm, and traveled to meet with human rights groups.  These included Derechos Humanos, No More Deaths and others. I also met with private border patrol groups including American Border Patrol and the The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps.

-Charlie, the owner of the dairy farm had told me stories of his workers who had been robbed, kidnapped, or had nearly died of heat stroke on their crossings.  One migrant had even tripped over a dead body in the dark while walking through the desert in Arizona  The border is full of smugglers or “coyotes“, some better than others.

-Most coyotes are corrupt or worse. There are reports of many deaths and rapes on the border. Migrants on the farm had been captured and expelled by the U.S. Border Patrol.  Their stories motivated me to make a Mexican Immigration film.

-My first idea was to make an immigration movie about the border crossing stories of dairy farm workers in the United Sates.  I closely followed a family of undocumented or illegal immigrants, depending on your politics.  I learned about their daily lives over time through their ups and downs over the years. While filming, migration began to become a hot button issue in American politics.  I decided that I should include the immigration debate in the film.

-Hundreds of Mexican deaths occur each year along the border during their risky crossings.  This is one of the main reasons that I decided to make a film about undocumented immigration in America.

-I read books about migrant workers in America and the economics behind it.  I studied the history of the U.S. – Mexican border and the “Bracero” program which began in 1942.

-I feel that this film is one of the most complete Mexican immigration films to date.  It focuses on a family of migrants, while It covers many sides of the debate about undocumented immigration.   This film is a fair look at as many stances as possible on an issue that divides so many.

-Most of the edits were done on laptops in dining rooms, and at friend’s homes.  Finally, I settled in at Post Works in NYC for the remainder of editing and sound engineering with Luis Ortiz-Guillen we did our edits over the course of 6-7 years in bits and pieces, finishing the first film festival copy with Spanish and English subtitles.

-I worked for years on this film about members of a large family and what their lives and jobs are like here in America.  The movie studies the reasons why they take the risks crossing the border.  It was done in the hopes of  making people aware of the number of migrants who die along the border, while attaching a human face to it. My hope was to inform Americans about the need for reform.

-The biggest moral problem I had was when I was set to interview Jairo’s cousin Julio one night, and he did not show up.  We learned that he had been put in jail, and that the sheriff or immigration police may be on the way to raid the family home.  Attempts to help get Julio get out failed.

-I realized that I might have a gripping and stirring chance to catch this on film.  After thinking about whether to film or not, I asked Jairo, “What should I do?  Film it or not?”  Without pausing, he told me to film it, after all, was that not what I was there to do?

-I drove along the frontier regions of the Southwestern U.S. where miles seem to go by and by endlessly.  There were empty desert lands and hills with a few ranches between the cities found along the way.  I saw the same burned out truck with an anti-immigrant sign that I had seen in another documentary.

-One time, I asked one of the Mexican workers (Laurentino) if he would help me and appear in the film.  He said, “Is this filmmaking what you do for a living?”  After I replied, “Yes.”  He said, “Then I must help you and appear in your film, because work can be very difficult to find. So, yes I will help you.” I found this to be one of the most touching moments I had making this film.  He  knew the risk he was putting himself in by appearing on camera, and still agreed to, because he felt he was helping me make a living.

-Over the years, I spoke to  Charlie the farm owner about making a documentary. The big question was would his partner agree to it and would the Mexican farm hands do the same.  One day, on the phone, he told me all were on board.  I packed a Jeep full of equipment, and drove up to the farm.  Charlie’s partner greeted me and said, “Hey Dan, what the Hell are you doing here?”  At that point, I realized that no one was on board, or even knew I was coming up to film a documentary. Charlie had conned me into going up there, and I will be forever grateful for that.

-I proceeded to follow Charlie, the farm owner around for about 2 weeks pretending I was making a film about dairy farming.  One day, Jairo, the main character in the documentary asked me, “Why aren’t you filming me?”  Later, I let Jairo know that this was not a documentary about dairy farming, and that I was planning on making a personalized film about undocumented or illegal immigration.  At first, he refused to continue. I asked him if he liked the current system, he replied, “No.”  I said, “Maybe someone has to take a chance and appear in a documentary that personalizes immigration. and then, perhaps, a change could take place.” I saw the light bulb flash over his head.  He told me he would ask the rest of his family to participate. My hopes to make a Mexican immigration film were now a reality.

-My Southwestern journey gave me a small taste of the conditions which Mexican migrants must face on the border.  I spent days in the desert with pro-immigrant groups as well as social justice groups that filled water tanks for migrant job seekers. I spent two full days in Arizona at an anti-illegal immigrant rally. During several days out in the desert , and I found it impossible to stay hydrated. But, I was able to stay in hotels that migrants crossing the border in hot daily temperatures and cold desert nights do not.

-In making a Mexican migration movie, I heard polar opposite viewpoints. There were words and slogans from these groups such as “undocumented”. “illegal”, “migrant”, and “alien.”  I also heard, “No person is illegal” versus “We are going to make the illegals build the wall.” There were many “workers” or “trespassers” who were crossing the border. In conclusion, I don’t see a resolution on this issue any time soon.  Click here to read the full documentary transcript.

–    Dan Glynn