Border Film Project
There are few debates in the United States as hotly torn apart as immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2005, three friends banded together to cast a fresh look at this red button topic.
This creative trio didn't want to proselytize or argue or blast off emails to voters. They wanted to capture the daily experience of the Mexican migrants attempting to enter the U.S. illegally and the American Minutemen attempting to spot and report them.
Cameras were produced. Envelopes were self-addressed and stamped. The small group set off to find border crossers and border watchers willing to photograph their experiences along the remote stretch of land that connects the U.S. to its southern neighbor. Eventually, a name was decided upon: the Border Film Project.
Three years, 73 cameras, and nearly 2,000 photos later, The Border Film Project boasts a moving collection of images from both sides of this fractious issue.
We wrote about the endeavor years ago. Recently, we emailed the project's founders, Rudy Adler, Victoria Criado, and Brett Huneycutt, to see how things are going:
Hey, guys. Your background page details how you distribute cameras to migrants and Minutemen. How did the two groups react, initially, to the idea? Tell us how you went about it.
Surprisingly, the vast majority of migrants we approached were receptive to the project. Granted, many of the 500 migrants that received cameras may have been just fishing for a free camera, but in the end, the migrants that truly believed in the project where the ones that took the best photos. Many migrants expressed a profound desire to show American citizens what they had to endure to arrive in the United States.
To recruit migrant photographers, we visited migrant shelters and other humanitarian organizations on the Mexican side of the border. In the busiest areas, these shelters housed dozens of migrants per night, providing them dinner, a place to sleep, and sometimes clothes and medicine for the journey. Since many had never used cameras before, migrants were given a brief tutorial—how to use the flash, film wheel, and viewfinder. They were also shown pictures of U.S. mailboxes so they could identify them once inside the U.S.
We gave out cameras in pre-addressed 4" x 8" envelopes with $1.60 in U.S. postage. South of Texas, we used waterproof envelopes to protect against the water of the Rio Grande. The key to getting migrant cameras back was creating an incentive system that allowed migrants to stay anonymous. We did that by giving them gift cards that had a $0 balance from Wal-Mart—the largest U.S. retailer where migrants shop the most. When migrants returned their cameras to us, we added donations to their cards.
Handing out cameras to the Minutemen was considerably easier and we got their full support—possibly in an effort to show a softer side of themselves. We spent a lot of time with volunteers on observations in Arizona and Texas, which gave us a much more human and nuanced view than the caricatures often painted by the media. Minutemen volunteers are, in short, dedicated to doing what they believe the U.S. government should (be doing)—securing the U.S. border with Mexico.
We sent boxes of cameras to Minutemen leadership, who then distributed them to volunteers at observation sites in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and California. They were told that we were handing out disposable cameras to groups on all sides of the issue.
How did you decide to embark on a photography project?
Brett, a Boston College graduate and Rhodes Scholar, had just completed his first year at Oxford and didn't know what he wanted to do for the summer.
Rudy, whom Brett had grown up with in Arizona, had just finished an annual workshop with Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Oregon.
Brett and I (Victoria) had spent two winter breaks during our undergraduate years at Boston College volunteering at a migrant shelter in Tijuana, Mexico and running an education/immersion experience though the school's Ignacio Volunteers program. Rudy was interested in film.
I had been trying to get out of finance for two years. I quit my job, and we all met in Phoenix, their home town to spend the summer of 2005 trying to find an interesting and innovative way to tackle the immigration debate in the United States.
We had come up with the idea of a documentary film. But we didn't have a camera. Or lighting equipment. Or money for that matter. I had a bonus... which went into, what we then called, the Border Film Project Fund.
We created an investor book with images and questions we wished to address in our film. We spent weeks fundraising and meeting with organizations and individuals that worked with migrants in Arizona. We managed to raise 10K.
We convinced Rudy's father to lend us his car. We bought a camera. And sound equipment. And a tripod. We devised a way to use a pool cleaner stick from Home Depot to attach our microphone to (we didn't have enough money for the real kind). It didn't look professional, but it worked. And we left Phoenix for the border.
We visited every border town from Arizona to Brownsville, Texas. We spoke to hundreds of people. Filmed. Listened. Observed. We met the Minutemen. Spent time with them in the dark desert night on their observation missions. But it was in Altar, Mexico, a town 70km south of the largest illegal crossing point in Arizona that we came up with the idea that became the Border Film Project.
Let's talk about the photos. We really like the "similarities" gallery—both for the ways it pairs images from migrants or Minutemen's experiences and for the instances when it illuminates connections between the two groups. What inspired that?
The idea behind the project from the onset was to find a way to unite people on an issue that is often divisive and riddled with angry rhetoric. Once we started getting cameras back and seeing the pictures taken by both sides, the images spoke for themselves. With many of them, it is not immediately obvious if the photograph has been taken by a migrant or a Minuteman. The photos illustrate the shared human element that we felt the debate had been lacking and the similarities are striking.
We felt that juxtaposing them for our audience would provide people on both sides of the issue the chance to see those uniting elements.
How did the pictures surprise you when you first started the project? Does anything still raise an eyebrow?
We were surprised at the overall quality of photos. In some cases, it's hard to tell if a professional photographer took the photo, or a migrant risking his or her life… You really get the sense that you are looking through the eyes of the people on the ground. It's a very personal and intimate glimpse into this reality.
There were three migrants that did an amazing job capturing their entire journey on one roll—from the migrant shelter in Mexico to their arrival in the U.S. We call them "journey rolls" and (they're) arguably the most interesting photos in our exhibition and book.
One migrant in particular was pretty brave with his camera. He took a picture of a Border Patrol helicopter as it descended upon his group.
Anything you regret about the Border Film Project?
Our new found familiarity with the cheapest and dirtiest motels in the southwestern United States. That, and letting Brett buy Hellmann's Squeeze Mayo to make himself tuna fish sandwiches in the car.
Ha! We love the 15 minute video you've put together. Any plans for a full-length documentary?
We cut the film that features interviews with both groups—migrants and minutemen to be shown exclusively as part of our exhibitions.
Also, we should mention that we began the project filming 60+ hours of interviews with politicians, activists, migrants, Minutemen, Border Patrol, and artists along the border.
We eventually found ourselves in a migrant shelter in the town of Altar, approximately 60 miles south of the Arizona border, filming a young woman and her three children. We warned them of the dangers ahead, but it fell on deaf ears. Before parting ways, Victoria searched, unsuccessfully, for a toy to give the children. Looking around for alternatives, one of us joked, "Let's just give them our video camera." We immediately knew we had stumbled onto an interesting idea—a way to let the people on the ground document their own reality.
How much time does the Project take up? Are you each fitting this in after your day jobs?
For a long time it was a full time endeavor for the three of us. It then became full-time for Rudy as the new website was being launched and has now turned into a part-time job where we rotate tasks and follow-up with emails, media requests and the photography exhibitions.
Finally, congratulations on the publication of the book version in April! What's next on the radar?
For now the photos continue to tour art galleries, universities and public spaces throughout the U.S., Mexico, and Europe. The book is still being sold on Amazon, B&N, American Apparel, and other independent book shops. I think we all agree that we would like to be impulsive and leave the world of 9-5 for another adventure. I think we will.
Thanks for talking to us, Victoria, Rudy, and Brett. We look forward to your next adventure!
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