Building the American Dream

Thursday, March 26 at 6:00 PM

Chelsea Hernandez | Austin, TX | 73 min
Genre: Documentary

In Texas, workplace safety (not to mention fair pay) for immigrants is hardly a priority. But a movement for justice is changing the conversation. In Building the American Dream, a Mexican family campaigns for a safety ordinance. A Salvadoran couple owed thousands in back pay fights for their children’s future. And a bereaved son battles to protect others from preventable tragedy. Their stories of courage and community offer up shocking truths about the American Dream.

The film screening is followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers and a community conversation moderated by Danny Flores and Aylin Gomez.

Danny Flores is a local artist and activist. He was born in Mexico and has lived in Columbia, SC, for 17 years. As a DACA recipient and son of two immigrant parents, he generally focuses his art and activism on Latinx/immigrant issues.

Aylin Gomez grew up in the small town of Anderson, SC. She is a native of Mexico City, Mexico and is a DACA recipient. She is currently a Junior at Columbia College studying Political Science and is passionate in advocating for immigrant rights in South Carolina.

Preceded by:

Invisible Hands

Yulian Martinez Escobar | Charleston, SC | 8 min
Genre: Documentary Short 

In this contemplative documentary short, a group of migrant workers go about their day-to-day business on a peach farm in rural South Carolina. A 2019 Rural Project Fellow, director Yulian Martinez Escobar created Invisible Hands in collaboration with Indie Grits Labs.

Building the American Dream DocLab

Indie Grits Labs (IGL) is excited to share our year-round media literacy offerings with festival audiences. IGL education programs work to foster the 21st-century skills necessary to be an active citizen in our increasingly media-heavy society and to plant the seeds for the film and media artists of the future.

Building the American Dream DocLab delves into the fundamentals of documentary filmmaking as a tool for storytelling and framing truth. Exploring the “spectrum of representation,” DocLab challenges us to consider experiences, bias, and authority as agents of influence when thinking about the audience’s understanding of a non-fiction subject in documentary filmmaking.