Directed by Yameli Gomez Jimenez
Country of Origin Mexico
Runtime- 22:31
In Chicago’s O’Hare airport, Ana Laura is saying her children goodbye, promising that she will come back as soon as her immigrations issues are solved.
In a neighboorhod in Charlestone, South Carolina, Marshalls and ICE agents arrive at Jesus house with just a picture of his driver´s license. After being taken out of his house, handcuffed, he has to stand a long process.
Despite living undocumented, both were exemplary “citizens” in the US for more than 10 years: contributing to the country, the community, paying taxes. However, their efforts were not reconognised since they did not have documents.
Ana Laura was cought in the airport and got a penalty with a prohibition to reenter the US for 20 years. Her children are still living apart from her. Going back to the country where she was born costed her her family.
Jesus was forced to leave his family, otherwise he could be deported. He came back to Mexico in order to apply for a family reunification visa with the hope of going back soon to his beloved ones.
Ana Laura and Jesus are living in Mexico city, in a city where they are “citizens” but they don´t feel being part of.
Director Biography – Yameli Gomez Jimenez
Yameli is a mexican graphic designer based in Leipzig, Germany. Yameli works as a freelancer for NGOS,startups and small business in Germany, Mexico and the USA. She is engaged working with migrant and refugee organizations in Mexico and Germany as a graphic designer, photographer, filmmaker and researcher.
In her german classes, she met people from different parts of the world. She was fascinated from learning other cultures and getting in touch with different languages. Therefore, she decided to enroll in a Masters in Visual Anthropology, documentary and Media Practices in Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster. Since then she became more involved in the topic of migration throught her friends’ stories and her own migration experience.
The short film “Residentes (The Citizens)” is a part of her Master’s thesis. She writes about the self organization of mexican returnees and deportees fighting against the stigma of the “illegal migrant” in Mexican society. The short film was in the Official Selection in Humano Film Festival last September 18th in Tijuana, Mexico.