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SIERRA VISTA — A documentary about illegal immigration in Cochise County has landed the prime screening slot in an international film festival.
“Cries from the Border” also will be available on DVD nationwide in early 2006 after being picked up by a major distribution company.
Mercedes Maharis, who made the film based on her personal experiences with illegal immigrants regularly crossing her Hereford property, submitted her work to the Liberty Film Festival in California, but said she never expected to get anywhere.
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“I thought I would enter, but didn’t think I had a chance,” she said. “They chose just 25 films from around the globe for the festival and ‘Cries from the Border’ got the prime time on Saturday night. Hopefully, a lot of people will show up for that.”
The annual Liberty Film Festival in Los Angeles, which takes place this weekend, showcases films that organizers believe celebrate free speech, patriotism and religious freedom.
“I think this issue will get a tremendous push in the right direction because of this,” said Maharis, a retired producer and director. “Last year more than 3,000 people attended the festival.”
The documentary, which features interviews with local agencies, organizations and residents about illegal immigration and how they deal with it on a daily basis, also caught the eye of Stephen Bannon.
He is chairman of the board of San Diego-based Genius Products, a major distributor in the entertainment industry that will launch the film as “Cochise County USA: Cries from the Border” on DVD.
“I think this is compelling cinema,” Bannon said. “It’s a documentary that does not have a point of view, but just allows the participants in this human drama to speak to the camera, and that’s very powerful. “Illegal immigration is one of the most important issues facing this country today. I also think there is a real maturity in the way this has been handled by Mercedes. She has not infused the film with her own prejudices.”
Genius Products, which will release the re-edited DVD through its distribution company Non Fiction Films, is planning a launch event within the next few months. “It will probably be right after the holidays, and we are planning a big roll out, hopefully with companies like Amazon,” Bannon said, adding the launch may take place in Sierra Vista.
In the meantime, Maharis has just returned from a series of trips that saw “Cries from the Border” screened in Boston, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
But the response was disappointing, she said.
“We had little support and not that many people turned up,” said Maharis, who had sell-out screenings in Sierra Vista. “Doesn’t anyone care about what is happening? It really made me feel like we are a voice crying in the wilderness. I was really surprised that people did not show an interest in it.”
She hopes, however, that the release of the DVD will change that.
“It’s really, really exciting. They are also looking at getting it into places like Blockbuster and Barnes & Noble all over the nation and in Canada,” she said. “That’s a dream come true as the film will be in so many places I could not have got it into.”
Maharis also is urging local residents to send a copy of the DVD, after its release, to congressmen to raise awareness of the illegal immigration issue.
“I am calling for Cochise County families to send one DVD to their congressman of choice and to write about their personal concerns about illegal immigration here on the border on a quarterly basis, to keep them updated,” she said. “Then the lawmakers cannot say they are not aware of the immigration crisis here.”
Joe Hicks wrote on Oct 8, 2007 2:22 PM: