2010


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Without Country

Without Country

(21 minutes) Guatemala/USA

Saturday, 10/30, 8:00pm (Session XXV)

Director/Producer: Theo Rigby


Description:

"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.


Biography:

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.


Contact Information:

Theo Rigby
318 Liadley Street
San Francisco, CA 94131
E-mail: theorigby@yahoo.com
Web site: www.sinpaisfilm.com

 


©2010 United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF)


Select a film

$100 a Day
The 10 Conditions of Love
All At Sea
Bhutto
The Bicycle
CAFWA
Children of Gaza
Climate Refugees
The Constitution Project: Yick Wo and the Equal Protection Clause
Crossing Hispaniola: Stories on Statelessness and Migration
The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan
Dead End: Afghan Migrants
Delicious Peace Grows in a Ugandan Coffee Bean
The Desert of Forbidden Art
Determined to Dance
Dreams Awake
Education on the Boat – Hope for Tomorrow
The First Kid to Learn English from Mexico
Gasland
Home for Hawksbill
Home is Where You Find It
In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee
Indentured
Killing in the Name
Kites
The Last Elephants in Thailand
Let's Make Money
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Mrs. Goundo's Daughter
New American Soldier
North-South.com
The Old Immigrant's Dance
Oliviero Toscani - The Rage of Images
Our Summer in Tehran
Prayers for Peace
Presumed Guilty
Queen of the Sun
Rabbit a la Berlin
Rapping in Tehran
Rescuing Emmanuel
Satellite Queens
Scientists under Attack -
Genetic Engineering in the Magnetic Field of Money
Secrets of the Tribe
Sing China!
Slaves - An Animated Documentary
Stinking Ship
Strange Birds in Paradise - A West Papuan Story
Streetball
Tesfaye
There Once Was an Island
Three Songs About Motherland
Wagah
Wahid's Mobile Bookstore
Waliden, Children of Others
War and Love in Kabul
War Don Don
Which Way Home
Who Killed Chea Vichea?
Without Country
World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements