Wetback: The Undocumented Documentary

Running time: 90 mins

World Premiere

Few subjects can raise temperatures so quickly as illegal immigration. Without falling for docile divisiveness, director Arturo Perez Torres? harrowing film examines the paradox of the ?wetback? worker?the closer they get to the elusive ?free world,? the less free they are and the more illegal they become.

Following many immigrants from Central America and Mexico, on often extremely dangerous journeys to North America, Torres catalogs the complexities of the issues that affect people on both sides of the border. From the U.S. patrol guarding the border to the immigrants risking their lives to cross it, Wetback focuses on the many obstacles in their way, including gangs and vigilantes, to expose the larger problems.

Of the more than 3,000 Latin Americans who per day embark on their journey, fewer than 300 make it to their destination. Packing as much emotion and suspense as the most accomplished drama, Wetback explores and humanizes the issue as few documentaries before.

Fernando F. Croce

Screening with:
Victoria Para Chino; dir. Cary Fukunaga; 13min/35mm/United States, Mexico - In May 2003, a refrigerated truck carrying more than 80 undocumented immigrants drove across the Mexican border into the heartland of Texas with horrifying results.

MAVERICK COMPETITION