The 800 Mile Wall: Immigrant Rights Activists Join Hands Across the Border

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Immigrant Rights Activists Join Hands Across the Border

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Jessica Rodriguez holds crosses during a rally in a busy Tijuana intersection to raise awareness of missing persons and in conjunction with Amnesty International's Day of the Disappeared. Rodriguez' husband has been missing for for two years. (Photo by David Maung) They say power is in the numbers, and that is exactly the hope for family members of kidnapped and disappeared in Tijuana, who have signed a cooperation pact with the immigrant rights group and the search and rescue team of Desert Angels.

The pact was sealed between the Citizen Committee against Impunity lead by Fernando Ocegueda in Tijuana and San Diego based Desert Angels founder Rafael Hernandez.

It might be a strange mix, but their struggles are quite similar, because both groups are trying to find missing persons and face hardship in the legal responsibility “gray zone” created at the border.

The Citizen Committee against Impunity has just recently celebrated the International Day of the Disappeared, a date observed by many in Argentina, Colombia and Chile.

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The 800 Mile Wall now on DVD!

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The 800 Mile Wall website:

www.800milewall.org

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Other films from Gatekeeper Productions:

www.gatekeeperproductions.com

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WHO WE ARE

John Carlos Frey - Director is a native of Mexico. His directorial debut, “The Gatekeeper,” garnered ten national and international film festival awards. As well as critical acclaim, “The Gatekeeper” has been recognized by Amnesty International, The Anti Defamation League, Human Rights Watch, National Immigration Forum, National Center for Farmworker Health, The League of United Latin American Citizens, The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), The Joan B. Kroc Institute of Peace and Justice as well as the Hispanic Congressional Caucus in Washington, D.C. for it’s realistic depiction of illegal immigration in the United States. Through his work, Mr. Frey has advocated on behalf of the underserved in America. He has been invited to share his expertise all over the country as well as Mexico, Central and South America. Some speaking venues include, U.S. Congress, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Georgetown, Notre Dame, UCLA and USC to name a few.

In 2006 Mr. Frey completed “The Invisible Mexicans of Deer Canyon” which is an in depth look at migrant life in wealthy southern California. He spent over a year visiting and living amongst the Mexican migrants of Deer Canyon that live outdoors in third world conditions. He traveled alone carrying all of his sound, camera and lighting equipment. Many of the migrants were initially reluctant to talk to Mr. Frey. As his trips to the canyon became more frequent, the migrants began to trust and invite him into their homes for a personal look at their lives. In 2007 Mr. Frey completed the follow up film to “Invisible Mexicans of Deer Canyon” entitled, "The Invisible Chapel" and in 2007 completed "One Border One Body," documenting the annual Day of the Dead Mass celebrated on the border between El Paso, TX and Juarez, MX.

Jack Lorenz - Producer started his career in the film business in the late 1980’s working for Roger Corman. He worked on several low budget features before being hired by Vestron Pictures as Vice President of Production working on films such as "The Rainbow" starring Glenda Jackson and "Midnight Crossing" starring Faye Dunaway. He also worked extensively in Europe and Asia during that time. In 1991 he was hired by the Walt Disney Studios to help run the production arm of Buena Vista Pictures. While there he supervised the production of approximately twelve films.

After Buena Vista Lorenz became an independent producer working with Linda Lavin at Big Deal Inc. where he produced the critically acclaimed cable film "The Rose Garden" starring Mary Tyler Moore and Linda Lavin. The film was the highest rated film ever on the ABC Family Channel.

In 1995 Lorenz was hired by Peter Guber to run the production arm of his new entity, Mandalay Entertainment. While there was responsible for the production of twenty feature films and television movies. Among the more successful were, "Donnie Brasco", starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino, "Seven Years in Tibet", starring Brad Pitt, and "I Know What You Did Last Summer".

In late 1999 Lorenz retuned to independent producing with "Vampires Los Muertos", starring Diego Luna and Jon Bon Jovi for Screen Gems as well as the self financed and distributed,"The Gatekeeper", which became a critical and film festival success, winning 9 best pictures awards at film festivals across the country. Since then he has collaborated with director John Carlos Frey on The Invisible Mexicans of Deer Canyon, The Invisible Chapel, One Border-One Body and their most recent film, The 800 Mile Wall.

Jack graduated from California State University with a degree in Theatre History, he lives in Los Angeles.

The 800 Mile Wall

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Immigrant Rights Activists Join Hands Across the Border

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