14 February 2011

Thoreau Center Midday Reels presents Entre Nos


Wednesday, February 16 12:30pm - 2:00 pm Pacific Room at Tides, Thoreau Center for Sustainability

Join us for Midday Reels, featuring the award-winning film Entre Nos. This film traces the story of a family struggling to survive and make a permanent home for themselves in the United States. Despite grueling challenges, this mother’s courage and imagination offer hope. The film is based on a true story and should spark more dialogue about immigration reform. The Center for American Progress, America’s Voice Education Fund, and Reform Immigration for America have all supported this film.

Film Synopsis:

Mariana (Paola Mendoza) is determined to keep her family together. Her children, Gabriel (Sebastian Villada Lopez), 10, and Andrea (Laura Montana Cortez), 6, have grown up in Colombia without their father. He immigrated to the United States years earlier in order to make a better life for his family. Finally after many years of separation the family is reunited in New York City.

After coming home late from work one night Antonio announces he has found work in Miami and will be moving there…alone. He will send for the family when he is settled.

Days go by and Mariana does not hear from him. Worried and desperate, she goes to her only friend’s home only to find out Antonio is not coming back. The rent is due, there is no food on the table and Mariana has fifty dollars to her name. With no one to turn to, she must find a way, in a strange city where she barely speaks the language, to provide for her family, financially and emotionally.

Mariana makes homemade empanadas (meat patties), which she tries to sell on the streets, however this quickly fails. With all options closing in on her, Mariana turns to the city’s trash, collecting cans in order to put food on the table. With Gabriel and Andrea working beside her, the family finds the most stability they have known since their arrival, and it is during these challenging moments that the family triumphs.

In entre nos, Mariana, Gabriel and Andrea take us on a remarkable journey where we bear witness to a family’s commitment to survival and their unrelenting hope for the American dream...one soda can at a time.

Midday Reels events are free informal mid-day learning sessions hosted at Tides. Friends, neighbors and colleagues are welcome. Visitors, please sign in at the front desk.