SYNOPSIS
 

EL INMIGRANTE is a documentary film that examines the Mexican and American border crisis by telling the story of Eusebio de Haro a young Mexican migrant who was shot and killed during one of his journeys north. The film presents a distinct humanitarian focus in which story and character take precedent over policy and empiricism. Towards this end “El Inmigrante” examines the perspectives of a diverse cast of players in this border narrative. A cast which includes the de Haro family, the community of Brackettville, Texas–where Eusebio was shot, members of vigilante border militias in Arizona, the horseback border patrol in El Paso, and migrants en route to an uncertain future in the United States.

 
THE PRODUCTION
 

THE PRODUCTION of “El Inmigrante” began in the fall of 2003. We sought to make a documentary film about United States and Mexico border issues which did not treat the Mexican migrant as part of a faceless problematic horde. Our intention was focus on a single incident along the border and thereby put a human face on a highly politicized subject. The hope was to avoid stereotypes and generalizations, and, even more so, to let policy and empiricism take a back seat to the narrative. If anything we did not seek to simplify the issues, but rather we wanted to reveal their inherit complexities. After months of research we found the story of Eusebio de Haro and with incredible cooperation with his family and the folks in Brackettville, Texas we where able to proceed with our project.

The film was shot on 24p video on Panasonic AGDVX-100 and 100A cameras. It was filmed over four segments with different crew iterations each trip. The first segment was shot in March 2004 around the desert of Sasabe, Mexico and ended in El Paso, Texas where we filmed the Border Patrol scenes. The second trip in May 2004 was focused around Agua Prieta and Altar, Mexico. The bulk of the film was shot the following August in Brackettville, Texas, San Felipe and Nuevo Laredo in Mexico. This was the shoot that documented our main characters and locales. Lastly in November 2004 we went back to San Felipe to film the Day of the Dead scenes and also to shoot some pickup scenes back in Texas.

The intense editing began February 2005 and continued through May. In June and July final sound mix was completed and subtitles where added. Overall the process from idea to finished film was completed just shy of two years.

 
 
COPYRIGHT 2005. 6512 PRODUCTIONS / OUZEL MOTION PICTURES / IMPALA ROJA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.