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Director/Producer: Theo Rigby
"Undocumented immigrant" and "US citizen" are often polarizing phrases that carry a charged set of assumptions and stereotypes. The film Without 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.
Theo Rigby is a freelance documentary filmmaker and photographer based out of San Francisco. He creates social and political documentary projects with still and moving images. Theo has focused on topics ranging from the war in Iraq to incarceration and most recently, immigration in the US. His first film My First War, about the first forty-four days of the war in Iraq, won awards and was recently distributed by Ironweed Films. His short film Close to Home was a National Finalist in the 2009 Student Academy Awards, it also won a Golden Eagle Award and a special jury mention at the 2010 Ashland Independent Film Festival. Theo has completed documentary photography projects on migrant workers in South Korea, childhood asthma in America, families of US soldiers who have been killed in Iraq, and undocumented immigrants living in the US. He has shot stills for Newsweek, the New York Times, National Geographic France and People magazine. His still photographic work has been exhibited at San Francisco City Hall and at the 2005 Visa Pour L'Image festival in Perpignan, France. He received an MFA in documentary film at Stanford University.
Theo Rigby
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©2010 United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF) |
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