The University of San Diego’s Trans-Border Institute addresses crime, immigration, violence, and other issues, but research isn’t relegated to the classroom: The 11th annual Border Film Week returns to the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies February 7–10, with free film screenings and panel discussions focusing on those same issues in a more engaging way.
Film, especially documentary film, has the power to create awareness about social issues that other mediums don’t, says Everard Meade, the institute’s director. “Border Film Week isn’t just an event or a festival—it’s an expression of one of our preferred methods of bringing people together to build a more peaceful and just society.”
Among the films screening this year are Tempestad, which explores the way violence in Mexico has affected two very different women; Mexican Dream, about undocumented Mexican migrant workers in Minnesota; and Kings of Nowhere, dealing with government corruption in northwestern Mexico.
“We experience the world in moving pictures, and film is the medium that best captures this reality,” Meade explains. “Visual media has the unique capacity to generate empathy across social and cultural divides.”
Border Film Week Highlights Cross-Cultural Issues
Kings of Nowhere
