"Life On The Line: Coming Of Age Between Two Nations" illuminates the changing face of America through the personal story of 11-year-old Kimberly Torrez. The cinéma vérité documentary by filmmakers Jen Gilomen and Sally Rubin follows a year in the life of Kimberly and her family. Living in Nogales, Mexico, Kimberly crosses the border each day to go to school in Nogales, Arizona. Her unemployed father, stricken with Hepatitis C, needs a liver transplant; her mother desperately awaits the visa that will allow the family to move back to the U.S. Meanwhile, Kimberly struggles to maintain school attendance and keep up her grades, facing the dangers of the border each day.
LifeLines: Stories From The Border
As we were filming "Life On The Line," we met many communities of people living on the U.S./Mexico border. Folks living in the borderlands face a variety of challenges. The border can be a violent and dangerous place at times. But most of the violence we've heard so much about in news reports isn't coming from the people who live there. These communities are caught up in the middle. Young people in particular, in addition to facing the regular challenges of growing up, face socioeconomic issues, racial tensions, bullying, and health access issues. What follows are collections of stories from border communities.
“Kimberly’s situation on the border is harrowing,” said Rubin, producer of "Life On The Line." “We tried to offer a new perspective on traditional border issues — that of a young girl who’s trying to stay in school and pursue her dreams while managing her family and its urgent situation and needs.”
The Torrez story is pressing — and common. Currently, there are half-a-million American children living in Mexico, and an estimated 16,000 people cross the border on foot each day. Several thousand of them are students, so many that there is now a name for them: “transfronterizos.”
Like Kimberly, these U.S. citizens live in Mexico but commute to school in the U.S., in most cases breaking the law to obtain their education. Straddling two countries, these students symbolize the bifurcated state of shifting American immigration policies, which are contentious and have no ready solutions. As Kimberly and the Torrez family face a future divided, so do so many others.
"Life On The Line: Coming Of Age Between Two Nations" is a production of Fine Line Films with support from Chapman University, the Puffin Foundation, Ltd., The Fledgling Fund, and partner organizations El Viento, Girls Inc. and presenting station Eight Arizona PBS.
Full Episode
"This half-hour documentary follows a year in the life of 11-year-old Kimberly Torrez. Living steps from the border in Nogales
