In the last 30 years, the Southeast, and North Carolina in particular, has seen the largest influx of immigrants from Latin America to the United States. For this first wave of immigrants – mostly from Mexico and Central America, it was as if they had landed on the Moon: a desolate cultural landscape void of comforts like local Spanish language media, grocery stores with “Hispanic” products, bilingual social workers, and a settled Spanish speaking receiving community. Today, in North Carolina, for example, Latinos represent 9.8% of the general population, but in some rural towns, they are more than 50% of the student body. And who would have imagined that in 2021, a first-ever Latina Councilwoman would be running for mayor of Durham, North Carolina. This demographic explosion is widening the Black and white patterns of Southern history and demanding to be heard, to be seen, and to have the opportunity to share their Southern identity. A global identity linked to ancient patterns of migration, colonization and assimilation, diversion and subversion. At the same time, it’s an identity linked to God, work, family and tradition. And it doesn’t get more Southern than that. We are witnessing the birth of what I call the Nuevo South, a place of bilingual encounters and hybrid cultures.
I have chosen five documentaries that I believe best represent this new emerging reality. We are, of course, still a very young community, but we have finally decided to stop running and settle down. And yet, two of the docs are directed by Anglos, 120 DAYS: UNDOCUMENTED IN AMERICA and LOS JETS, one is co-directed by a Latina living in the South, SANCTUARIO, another is co-directed by two Latinos, THE INFILTRATORS, but the directors are not from the South, and one is directed by me, FIESTA! QUINCEAÑERA. This should tell you everything you need to know about the serious lack of resources and mentoring for Latino filmmakers in the South. Yes, it’s very difficult to tell your story while you are on the run, but today we have stopped running and it’s high time we were given the opportunity to have a seat at the table – and choose part of the menu. Choosing part of the menu means that non-Latino gatekeepers (99%) need to allow our multidimensional and complex identity to breathe beyond funding only films that play into the tragic headlines and tropes of the immigration issue. Big kudos to SDF and REEL SOUTH for being there and helping set the table.
LOS JETS (2014)
Logline: This is the real story of Los Jets – a North Carolina high school soccer team made up almost entirely of young Latino men whose parents immigrated here in search of a better life. Some of them are still waiting for that dream to truly be theirs. Their coach is Paul Cuadros, an associate professor in the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media.
Watch: Stream for free on Pluto
120 DAYS: UNDOCUMENTED IN AMERICA (2015)
Directors: Ted Roach
Logline: A North Carolina immigration judge makes a deal with Miguel Cortes: if he agrees to leave the country voluntarily and pay a $5,000 bond, the judge will give him 120 days to get his affairs in order before leaving his wife and two daughters in the United States so they can continue their education.
Watch: Rent or buy on iTunes
FIESTA! QUINCEAÑERA (2018)
Director: Rodrigo Dorfman
Logline: Life for a Latinx immigrant family in the Nuevo South can be challenging and sometimes terrifying, but thankfully, there’s always a fiesta to take you through the night. FIESTA! QUINCEAÑERA, is a feature documentary, based on the ITVS digital series, that weaves the lives of three Latina girls and a drag artist as they celebrate their quinceañera, a complex and colorful rite of passage. The creative spirit of Latinx communities and their struggle to retain their roots and traditions shine through this multicultural coming of age story for a new America.
Watch: Stream for free on PBS
SANCTUARIO (2018)
Directors: Christine Delp and Pilar Timpane
Logline: After 25 years of living in the United States, Guatemalan grandmother Juana Ortega is threatened with deportation and soon takes sanctuary in a small North Carolina church. The film is as much a portrait of a family torn apart by unjust laws as it is a portrait of an Anglo community opening their arms in solidarity.
Watch: Stream for free on PBS
THE INFILTRATORS (2019)
Directors: Cristina Ibarra & Alex Rivera
Logline: The inspiring and unbelievable true story of young immigrant activists who intentionally get detained by ICE and locked in a shady, for-profit detention center in order to affect immigration reform from the inside. One of them is Viridiana, co-founder of the activist youth group Alerta Migratoria, in Durham, North Carolina, founded as a rapid response to the draconian deportation laws imposed by the State General Assembly all across the South in 2011.
Watch: Rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video
Rodrigo Dorfman is an award-winning multimedia producer living in Durham, North Carolina, known for his work documenting the Latinx community in the South. He is currently in production, with his collaborator Peter Eversoll, for BULLS AND SAINTS, a feature documentary on reverse migration and bull riding for Latino Public Broadcasting. His memoir Generation Exile will be published by Arte Publico Press in March 2023.
