In an effort to diversify programming at the Roxie Theater—one of the oldest theaters in San Francisco—a documentary will be shown starting on May 15, centered around the 11 million undocumented people who live in this country, thousands of which live in this city and neighborhood.
Inspirational and informative, “Documented: A Film by an Undocumented American,” directed by Jose Antonio Vargas, on the difficulties undocumented immigrants face on an everyday basis, obstacles attaining work or a driver’s license, or being unable to board an airplane when traveling.
Narrated in the first person, the documentary tells that Vargas emigrated from the Philippines to Palo Alto, Calif., at the age of 12. He was separated from his mother, and his grandparents took care of him without knowing telling him his undocumented status. It was not until he was 16 that, having decided to go to the DMV to obtain his license, he found out that his documents were false.
Vargas’ case resonates with that of many other youth who arrived to the United States at a very young age and made their way in the United States, were placed in the education system, and went through the process of acculturation to become “American” in the cultural sense.
Vargas graduated with a degree in Journalism from San Francisco State University. After interning at the San Francisco Chronicle while studying, he wrote for The Atlantic magazine, the The Huffington Post, and the Washington Post, where he received the Pulitzer Prize.
In 2011, Vargas decided to come out of the shadows with an article he wrote in the Sunday magazine of the New York Times. Shortly thereafter, he united with many other young people in the same situation as part of the “Define American” campaign. To date, naturalization for these young people is up in the air, as President Barack Obama did not sign legislation in 2012.
Being his first venture into the realm of documentary films, Vargas also wrote and produced the film with his production company, Apo Anak Productions. Apo Anak Productions is named in honor of his grandparents and in Tagalog the name means “grandson” and “child.”
Although it feels a bit long, the documentary is very well done, and it is full of inspirational images for thousands of undocumented youth who feel they are in the shadows.
Vargas is already working on his second documentary, which is about what it means to be white in the 21st century.
“Documented: A Film by an Undocumented American,” will play May 15-21 at the Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St., San Francisco. Mondays are discount days. For detailed information, visit www.roxie.com or call (415) 863-1087. The film will also show at the Rialto Cinema Elmwood and the Rialto Cinema Sebastopol. In English, Tagalog, and Spanish with English subtitles.
—Translation Alison Trujillo