BEYOND THE BORDER {MAS ALLA DE LA FRONTERA} {BILINGUAL/ENGLISH AND SPANISH} (TV)
Summary
This documentary follows the story of the Ayala
brothers, who one after another crossed illegally into
the United States in search of better lives for
themselves and their family back in Michoacan, Mexico.
After Marcelo leaves for Kentucky, father Marcial,
mother Carmen, and sister Lupe talk about the reasons
why Gonzalo, Juan, Horacio, and now Marcelo left Mexico
for the United States and the effect their absence has
on the family. In central Kentucky, Marcelo, Horacio,
Juan, and Gonzalo discuss their reasons for coming to
the States to seek work: Marcelo and Horacio,
relatively new arrivals, dream of returning to their
family with enough money for a better life in Mexico;
Juan and Gonzalo, each in the U.S. for more than fifteen
years, discuss the realities of immigrant life. The
brothers celebrate July 4th together, and Juan, a
thoroughbred horse groom, works at a big horse auction.
Sales agent Reilly McDonald and champion horse trainer
Bob Baffert explain the July sales event; Juan describes
his grueling schedule and delineates the class system at
horse farms that keeps Hispanic workers relegated to
lesser groom positions; Marcelo and Horacio, still
hoping to return with money to Mexico, complain of the
low pay and lack of union support for immigrant workers
on horse farms. Marcelo returns to Mexico for
Christmas: sisters Carmela, Lupe and Elena talk their
dreams of financial stability, ultimately thwarted for
lack of funds; Marcelo visits Uruapan National Park,
attends a rodeo with his sisters, and explains why he
will always consider Michoacan home; father Marcial
discusses his own need to earn money in the States.
Back in the U.S. after Christmas, Marcelo describes the
harrowing border crossing and performs with his and
Horatio's band at the First Annual Latino Fest. Horatio
and Marcelo become more bound to their American lives.
The program ends with an update on Gonzalo's progress
dealing with his alcoholism.
(This program is bilingual; Spanish dialogue is
subtitled in English and vice versa.)
Cataloging of this program was made possible by the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 2003.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS WNET New York, NY
- DATE: September 14, 2002 4:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:57:04
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:78318
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Hispanic Americans; Latin Americans - United States; U S - Emigration and immigration
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV, 2002
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Eren Isabel McGinnis … Producer
- Ari Luis Palos … Producer, Director
- Jacob Bricca … Production (Misc.), Editor
- Gil Sanchez … Composer
- Garcia Hernandez, Juan Careos … Music (Misc. Credits), Additional music by
- Carmela Ayala
- Carmen Ayala
- Elena Ayala
- Gonzalo Ayala
- Horacio Ayala
- Juan Ayala
- Lupe Ayala
- Marcelo Ayala
- Marcial Ayala
- Bob Baffert
- Reilly McDonald