Producer & Director: Heather Courtney
On Wednesday Heather came to my documentary class to screen some of her work and answer some practical questions about documentary. She showed us clips from her Masters thesis film called Los Trabajadores "The Workers" (2003) about Mexican day laborers in Austin, Texas. Her new film Letters From the Other Side is about the wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters of men who have left Mexico to work in the US.
The whole film was screened at the University to the public in a filled auditorium. The film is very powerful. Heather lived in Mexico for a year to shoot the film. In the film, she delivers video messages to male family members in the US of the women in Mexico. Some of the women in the film have not seen their husbands or fathers for more than 8 years. Heather told our class that she was hesitant to deliver the video messages between her subjects because she felt it was intervening with the "truth" of the subject. Ironically these video letters are the heart of the film and serve to bring the issue of Mexican immigration to a personal level for the viewer.
Heather really impressed me as a great person and filmmaker. After the screening I gave her a copy of the script of my new film which is related in subject matter to hers. In exchange she gave me a DVD of the film. :)
Trailer
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