Armed with sodas and popcorn, ninety-five excited high school students entered the theater at Tribeca Cinemas for the Tribeca Youth Screening Series, presented by the Tribeca Film Institute and Arts Engine’s Media That Matters Film Festival. These young adults came from several public high schools across New York City to enjoy a screening of Patricia Riggen’s latest film, La Misma Luna (Under the Same Moon). The film tells the story of Carlitos, a young Mexican boy who is left behind to live with his sick grandmother as his mother crosses the border to California. We watched as the mother braves the odds and risks all in order to secure Carlitos with a financial future. However, after his grandmother dies, Carlitos decides to cross the border alone and reunite with his mother. Facing the obstacles shared by many immigrants around the world, Carlitos meets various characters that attempt to take advantage of his unfortunate situation. Through a series of events he meets Enrique, a migrant worker, who initially resents Carlitos but learns to trust and care for him. Together they venture to east Los Angeles, where the only clue to the whereabouts of his mother is the description of a pay phone from which she would call him every Sunday.

Throughout the movie, the students were seriously engaged in this love story between Carlitos and his mother. During the funny scene of Carlitos and Enrique singing and dancing in the kitchen they laughed, and when the cops almost caught Carlitos the theater was so silent that anyone could hear our hearts beating. There were cheers and tears as the crowd rallied for the characters, and for the idea of immigrants escaping the oppressive and abusive system.

At the end of the film Adrian Alonso (Carlitos) and Eugenio Derbez (Enrique) were presented to the audience for a Q&A session. The students roared as if they had just spotted Britney Spears. Both actors had traveled to New York from Mexico City for the film’s promotional tour and were obviously excited to be present. The teachers had pre-selected students to come up and ask questions. Over and over the students spoke about how moved they were and how unaware they were to the rough life of immigrants. While thirteen-year-old Adrian joked around with the students, Eugenio spoke of the importance of having this movie reach young adults across the country in hopes that awareness and education would be the beginning of a solution. The chemistry between the two actors and the audience was incredible. Mission accomplished!

All teachers participating in the Tribeca Youth Screening Series were given study guides to discuss the issues of immigration further. These study guides include information about La Misma Luna as well as illegal immigration myths and realities, the impact of immigration on New York schools and advice on how their students can get involved. Arts Engine paired this film with The Sixth Section, from the fourth annual Media That Matters Film Festival, which was sent for free to participating teachers along with an accompanying Discussion & Take Action Guide. Students watched the film in their classrooms prior to screening La Misma Luna. The Sixth Section tells the story of Grupo Union; a small Mexican town behaving like a transnational corporation—in reverse. Instead of exporting jobs to the third world in order to pay low wages, the town of Boqueron has exported workers to New York, in order to earn higher wages. The two processes are mirror images of each other. Except for one major difference; when the executive travels to Mexico to relocate his factory, he doesn’t have to hide in the trunk of a car. Using this film, the students are able to dig deeper into the issues of immigration, especially in defusing the many myths associated with immigration, such as the accusation of immigrants “stealing” jobs from legal US citizens, or the association of “protecting” US borders with the “war on terror.”  Educating youth in global issues is such an important goal and yet many filmmakers are not taking advantage of this key audience. One day, this generation will be our leaders, and I only hope that they will help to bring the dream of a new world order one step closer.

—Posted by Oliver Palan