La Oposición

Two years ago I found myself traveling throughout the United States conducting interviews for a play I was writing on immigration. From the Humanitarian Aid camp on the US/ Mexico boarder, to court proceedings, and detention centers. I acquired stories from judges, lawyers, advocates, undocumented, and migrants crossing in the desert.

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So when executive producer Brian Hastert asked me to write and direct a short film for his senior Pace University students after the election, I was excited to meet these young actors whose concerns and impressive talent inspired the short film 'La Oposición'. They expressed their fear about the future of this country, their student visa’s, their friends and family.

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Growing up in a predominantly immigrant community in the USA this film is my response to the recent election and how this country is redefining an identity around a hostile narrative towards immigration. This film is a brown woman’s response to her country of birth. My love for my country and my continual battle within it’s system to be seen as equal. This country’s relationship to oppression. We go from outwardly oppressing people of color to outwardly targeting immigrants. When do we step back and address this country’s continual need to oppress?  Our refusal to look at the system we have in place that benefit’s off of that oppression, that uses it for economic growth, as fuel. What kind of country would we be without passive participation in the system that uses incarceration and fear to incentivize the American Dream?

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La Oposición delves into the whispers of humanity at the core of the criminalization of the word immigration. I believe an audience can hopefully find a piece of empathy as we follow an officer at the Department of Homeland Security as he starts to question how he fits into the system that he is directly benefiting from. I continually question my own passive participation in that system as I continue to carve out a path for myself.