January 31, 2013

Sneak preview of immigration documentary to be shown at Marquette

Award-winning director Marco Williams to discuss latest film

Event Information:
Date: Feb. 11, 2013
Time: 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Place: Johnston Hall, 103, 1131 W. Wisconsin Ave.

MILWAUKEE – Award-winning documentary director Marco Williams will visit classes at Marquette University and also screen a sneak preview of his documentary feature “The Undocumented.” The 90-minute documentary addresses the deaths of illegal border crossers in Arizona’s border region, where more than 2,000 dead bodies and skeletal remains have been found since 1998.

The screening, free and open to the public, is 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in Johnston Hall, 103, Monday, Feb. 11, and will be followed by a question and answer session with Williams; a reception will follow. “The Undocumented” will premiere April 29 on Public Broadcasting Service’s documentary series Independent Lens.

The film revolves around Marcos Hernandez, an undocumented Mexican living and working in Chicago. His father disappeared trying to enter America, leaving Hernandez to send money back to Mexico to support his brother who is need of a kidney transplant. The story entwines Hernandez’s search for his father with the efforts of humanitarians and Border Patrol agents who fight to prevent migrant deaths, medical investigators and the Mexican Consulate who work to identify dead border crossers, and Mexicans who struggle to accept the loss of a family member.

Williams’ films have received several awards, including the George Foster Peabody Award for “Two Towns of Jasper,” and he has been nominated three times for the Sundance Film Festival grand jury prize. He is currently a professor of film production at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He is visiting Marquette University as a Diederich Scholar and will meet with multiple classes.

For additional information or questions regarding the screening, please contact the Diederich College of Communication at (414) 288-5646. Media interested in talking with Williams should contact Andy Brodzeller in the Office of Marketing Communication, (414) 288-0286 or andrew.brodzeller@marquette.edu.