Let’s go and see a documentary about Bolivian illegal immigrants…

…you might want to see this one!

Donna took me along to Paula’s place near the Lincoln Centre to see a rough cut of ‘La Americana.’

This is the docmentary to see if you want to explore the dilemma millions of people all over the world face: Choosing between being with those you love and supporting those you love.

What would you do if you had to go hundreds or thousands of miles to earn money to support your family. Some people don’t see their families for months on end. For illegal immigrants, months can stretch out into years. Imagine leaving your daughter at home and taking the huge risk of attempting to enter the USA illegally in order to earn money that can’t be found in your native Bolivia. What if you left your daughter when she was six, and she was about to turn 15. Imagine how much of her life you’ve missed out on. What if by returning home you cannot support your family any more?

That’s the story of ‘La Americana’ – by Nick Bruckman, Jesse Thomas and John Mattiuzzi.

The film looked very professional: the ‘rough sound mix’ was perfectly fine, with lots of good music; the picture quality was great; the scenes were edited very well and flowed into each other very well. All there is to do is to sort out the structure a little: to concentrate on the primary story to be told.

The reason I’ve venturing an opinion is because the team from People’s Televison, the production company, came up with a detailed questionnaire for the audience that I enjoyed filling in. Of course they basked in the compliments, but the also invited detailed feedback on sections of the film that could do with some improvement.

Most of my ideas were about structure – which came from my understanding of screenplays. I hope my feedback was useful.