Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, March 24: SIN FRONTERAS/WITHOUT BORDERS
Giorgio Serafini’s look at the plight of deported individuals in Mexico had its premiere at the Atlantic City Cinefest last year.
Mexicali, near the US/Mexico border, is one of the major sites in Mexico where people deported from the US are released. Recognizing that many have no means to make it out of Mexicali, no contacts there, and often not even anywhere else to go to – making them easy prey for criminals – Sergio Tamai opened the Hotel Del Migrante to offer support and shelter. Newly deported individuals may stay for a brief time to get their bearings, or, should they wish to remain on, become volunteers for the hotel and the support group Tamai founded, Angeles Sin Fronteras/Border Angels. When Serafini stays focused on Tamai and the hotel, his doc is its most successful, though still workmanlike at best, but he unfortunately attempts to expand his remit to tackle larger issues around immigration and deportation. The result is a well-intentioned but scattered treatment of a topic that has already been covered extensively elsewhere.
what (not) to doc 