Desconocidos (Unknown)

Former school of Media Arts student Alma Hernandez will be screening

Desconocidos (Unknown) at the Arizona International Film Festival.

Saturday, April 24

4:00 p.m.

Screening Room

127 E. Congress in Tucson

Desconocidos (Unknown), a short documentary film that offers a glimpse into the lives of immigrants hoping to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

Every day, throngs of immigrants are deported to Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, after failed attempts to cross the border illegally. Many end up at the San Juan Bosco Shelter, where they rest before heading north toward the Arizona desert again. Travelers arriving at the shelter accept a hot meal and a warm bed for the night but disregard any warnings about the dangers that await them in the Arizona desert. They are desperate for something better, and they will keep trying to sneak across the international line until they make it to their destination or die in the process.

In recent years, Arizona  has become a deadly repository for immigrants who trek north across the border and into a rugged, remote desert that becomes the tomb of many. Oftentimes the corpses of immigrants lie in the desert for so long that all that is found are bones, which hinders identification. No one really knows how many more bodies have yet to be discovered.

This 12-minute documentary was produced by TierraSol Films, a Tucson company.

Directors are Alma M. Hernandez, who studied film at the University of Arizona, and Lourdes Medrano, a journalist who has reported extensively on immigration.