Beyond the polarized immigration debate exist thousands of immigrant youth challenged in a society reluctant to accept them. These are some of their stories from the heart of North Carolina.
The skinny
the undocumentary is a multimedia project about undocumented immigrant youth living in North Carolina. It’s about the challenges they face and the movement they built fighting for equality and a legal status in the United States.
Long story
Since the fall of 2010, I’ve been documenting the NC DREAM Team, a group of immigrant rights activists fighting for access to higher education, meaningful employment and basic civil and human rights for the undocumented community in the U.S. At this time, the group has inspired countless numbers of supporters, “allies,” undocumented immigrants to stand with them in marches, legal trainings, vigils, campaigns against deportations, and acts of civil disobedience. Their work also inspired this project, which I produced for my master’s thesis in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Credits
the undocumentary is produced by Joshua Davis with the support of:
Editorial
Thesis Advisor Pat Davison
Thesis Committee Members Jean Dennison and Paul Cuadros
Video: The Fighter
Video + Production Joshua Davis
Second Camera at Luchadoras Terri Flagg
Second Camera at youth rally Mimi Schiffman
Additional Camera at Luchadoras Stephen Mitchell
Transcription Urmila Ramakrishnan
Translation Denise Blanco Durán
Video: Illegal
Video + Production Joshua Davis
Second Camera during Charlotte protest Josh Stillwell
Transcription Urmila Ramakrishnan
Translation Denise Blanco Durán
Programming
Terri Flagg
Additional Programming
Stephanie Bullins
Logo and Additional Design
Blair Warren
Additional thanks to Chad A. Stevens for his guidance and support on “The Strength to Carry On” and “A Questionable Arrest”; to Catherine Orr for some last minute shooting and inspiration from her Dreams Delayed project; and to Manuel Vazquez, Alicia Torres Don, and the rest of the NC Dream Team for putting up with me the last two years.