Ni Aquí, Ni Allá (Neither Here, Nor There)

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Ni Aquí, Ni Allá (Neither Here, Nor There)

A film by Gabriela Bortolamedi
Co-Produced by Mark Abramson

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SYNOPSIS

NI AQUI, NI ALLA illuminates the challenges facing an undocumented college student and her family. Blanca, a second-year student at the University of California, Berkeley, crossed the border from Mexico into the United States with her parents when she was a child. As a student under the California DREAM Act who possess DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), Blanca qualifies for financial aid and has temporary protection from deportation, though her undocumented parents, who live and work in California's agricultural Central Valley, do not. NI AQUI, NI ALLA paints an intimate portrait of an undocumented family as they support each other during a turning point in their lives and stay together through the distance. At a time in this country’s history where the debate around immigration is highly contested and demands to close the border are in the daily news, NEITHER HERE, NOR THERE paints a very human face on an issue that many use simply as partisan, political fodder. Essential viewing for Anthropology, Sociology and Multicultural and Immigration Studies.

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

Margaret Mead Film Festival
San Diego Latino Film Festival

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Gabriela Bortolamedi

Gabriela Bortolamedi is a New-York based filmmaker, anthropologist, and journalist. She hails from Puerto Rico, where she worked as a reporter with the Center for Investigative Journalism of Puerto Rico (CPIPR). She is currently a PhD student at the Program in Culture and Media at New York University, where her films and research focus on the daily lives of undocumented migrants in the United States. Ni Aquí, Ni Allá (2014), which premiered at the Margaret Mead Film Festival, is her first film. (2/15)

Mark Abramson

Mark Abramson (b. 1988) is a Russian-American freelance photographer and filmmaker based in New York City.

He is drawn to telling stories that allow him to pass through a window and enter into subjects' lives and document their existence and experiences. Much of his desire to cover issues concerning immigration and other social issues come from the fabric of his family history and their migration from the former Soviet Union and how that has enabled him to work with his camera. Mark's interest in exploring reporting led him to study print journalism at the George Washington University, which then led him to receive more formal training as a photographer and video journalist at the Washington Post and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Mark is an English, Russian, Spanish, and Hebrew speaker and a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal. His published work and other clients also include:The Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Education Week , Getty Images, GOOD Magazine, Newsweek, Arena Magazine, International Herald Tribune, National Geographic (Food), El Nuevo Día.

Subject Areas

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The Learning

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Maria in Nobody's Land

MARIA IN NOBODY'S LAND is an unprecedented and intimate look at the illegal and extremely dangerous journey of three Salvadoran women to the US.

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Don't Tell Anyone (No Le Digas a Nadie)

Since the age of 4, Angy Rivera has lived in the United States with a secret that threatens to upend her life: She is undocumented. Angy arrived with her mother, fleeing violence, poverty, and civil war in their native Colombia. For 20 years they live in the shadows, struggling to stay afloat financially and avoid deportation while battling a complex and inequitable immigration system. "Don’t tell anyone" is a phrase whispered often and branded deeply on the consciousness of all who are undocumented. Now 24, unable to pay tuition for college and facing an uncertain future, Angy joins the youth-led New York State Youth Leadership Council (YLC) with whom she dons a bullhorn at pro-immigration rallies, telling all who will listen that she is "undocumented and proud." Rivera becomes an activist for undocumented youth with a popular advice blog "Ask Angy" and a YouTube channel boasting more than 27,000 views. She steps out of the shadows a second time to share her story of sexual abuse, an experience all too common among undocumented women. DON’T TELL ANYONE (NO LE DIGAS A NADIE) follows Rivera’s remarkable journey from poverty in rural Colombia to the front page of The New York Times

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Chicana

CHICANA traces the history of Chicana and Mexican women from pre-Columbian times to the present. It covers women's role in Aztec society, their participation in the 1810 struggle for Mexican independence, their involvement in the US labor strikes in 1872, their contributions to the 1910 Mexican revolution and their leadership in contemporary civil rights causes. Using murals, engravings and historical footage, CHICANA shows how women, despite their poverty, have become an active and vocal part of the political and work life in both Mexico and the United States.

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La Boda

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Escuela

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