The Department of Chicano/Latino Studies, Department of History, Humanities Commons and DREAMS @ UCI present a two day event

"Documenting the Migration Experience: A Visit With Filmmaker Anayansi Prado"

Film Screening: "Children in No Man's Land," directed by Anayansi Prado
Thursday, Oct. 9, at 6:00 p.m. in Humanities Gateway, Room  1070 (McCormick Screening Room)

CHILDREN IN NO MAN’S LAND is a documentary that uncovers the current plight of the 100,000 unaccompanied minors entering the United States every year. This film gives this timely political debate about the U.S./Mexico border a human face by exploring the story of Maria de Jesus (13) and her cousin Rene (12) as they attempt to cross the U.S./Mexico border alone to reunite with their mothers in the Midwest. Focusing on minors crossing through the Sonora Desert area in Nogales, Arizona, this film explores every detail of these children’s journey as well as the journeys of other children we meet on the way. We uncover in an intimate and personal way where they are coming from, what their journeys have been like, and how they’ve gone about making the United States of America their new home.

Documentary Filmmaking Bootcamp: Using Film to Tell Migration Stories
Friday, Oct. 10, 9:00-11:00 a.m., Humanities Gateway, Room 1030

Anayansi Prado will lead workshop participants in an intensive workshop on how to make your own documentary film from initial idea to final production. Learn how to develop a storyline, define your characters and audience, identify your interview style and approach, how to select and use equipment, and how to create a shot list and filming schedule--and how to deal with unexpected creative and technical challenges along the way.

Chicano/Latino Studies Colloquium Series Lecture: "Community Engagement and the Creative Journey: A Documentary Filmmaker's Perspective"
Friday, Oct. 10, 2:00-3:30  p.m., Social Science Plaza A, Room 2112
(reception to follow)

Anayansi Prado is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose independent productions have been broadcast nationally on PBS. Her works include Maid in America about Latina domestic workers in LA, Children in No Man’s Land about unaccompanied immigrant children crossing the US/Mexico border and Paraiso for Sale about American retirees and developers moving to Panama and the impact they have on the local and indigenous communities. Prado is a Rockefeller Media Fellow and has received funding for her films from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Creative Capital, ITVS, Fledgling Fund and many others. In 2008, Prado co-founded the non-profit Impacto Project which brings visual arts training to youths in developing countries. Prado is also a Film Ambassador for the State Department’s program The American Film Showcase and has taught documentary filmmaking workshops in several countries around the world including Burma, China, Angola, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Colombia, Bosnia& Paraguay. She holds a bachelor's in film from Boston University.

For further information, please contact Debbie Michel, dmichel@uci.edu or 949-824-1426.