A Documentary Film by Paul Kakert and Colleen Bradford Krantz.
Available October 12, 2010 – Now Taking DVD Pre-Orders |
| Synopsis |
When the bodies of eleven Central Americans and Mexicans were found inside a freight car in Denison, Iowa, the
nation took notice. Reporters descended on the small farming community, searching for information about how
and why this group ended up inside a locked railcar, where they would die horrific deaths. |
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| The documentary, “Train to Nowhere; Inside an Immigrant Death Investigation,” offers an honest, yet
compassionate look at the 2002 deaths of the eleven undocumented immigrants. It takes the viewers from the
streets of southern Texas, to the hills of a Guatemalan farm, to the Iowa town where the bodies were found. |
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| The film is part crime story, part immigration perspective. The film breaks free of the standard immigration story,
however, in examining the case from various viewpoints: that of one victim's New York brother, a long-time
immigration agent, and a train conductor imprisoned for working with the smugglers who locked the railcar to
throw off U.S. Border Patrol inspectors. Viewers will see beyond the superficial levels of the people involved in
the story and understand the complexities of their personalities and the situation. The older brother from
Guatemala, once an undocumented immigrant himself, struggles with anger and, sometimes, guilt. Even though
he urged his little brother to remain in Central America, his own financial success showed the younger man what
could be achieved. The immigration agent, who traveled north as a boy with his migrant farm worker grandfather
and father, believes in strict border control yet often encounters those who question his loyalty to the United
States because of his Mexican heritage. The former train conductor, once paid to help slip people into the United
States by train, argues he was trying to help the immigrants gain a chance at better lives. This is a crime story that
also illustrates how immigration is such a complex issue, far from black and white. |
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| Reviews: |
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“I thought it was very powerful, in a way that I didn’t anticipate. I was very much drawn in by the
characters … As filmmakers, you’ve chosen a distance to the material that I think is just right. If this
were presented from the POV of an advocate (either a pro or a con) no one would really listen – the
film would be viewed through prejudiced eyes, unconsciously. I had never really thought of that
before: The best way to truly communicate anything concerning immigration requires a certain
distance from the field of battle. It sounds paradoxical, but to really get people to connect deeply with
this topic, you have to maintain a bit of distance in that respect. I think you gauged it right.” |
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| – Monte Reel, author of “The Last of the Tribe: The Epic Quest |
| to Save a Lone Man in the Amazon.” |
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| “Your film is excellent, haunting and intriguing. My 13-year-old was telling her friends about it at
school this morning. This story needs to get out to people. What an incredibly thorough job you did
and … very even- handed. I myself, a humanitarian, went back and forth on the issue as I was
watching it with [my daughter]. This film led us into much thought. We discussed the Mexican
students in her classes and the social issues they have here, we discussed the life that the Guatemalans
had/have back home and how the house they live in isn’t all that bad with its stone walls, cattle, trees
in the hills, and lovely pastoral setting. |
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| We discussed the draw of America and the capitalist life here; how that can pull a kid away from his
simple (yet lovely) life with his mother to go for the big truck and apartment and big money that his
brother had in the US. It is all so sad.” |
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| – Ramona Gaylord, |
| Research Biologist and Science Educator |
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