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The Border Crossed Us
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The Border Crossed Us
IDFA 2023

The Border Crossed Us

Loretta van der Horst
Netherlands
2023
72 min
World Premiere
Frontlight
Festival history

While a big white surveillance blimp constantly hovers over the small border town of La Joya, Texas, local police officers patrol the neighborhood looking for human smugglers. The region is littered with traces of people who have attempted to get into the US by crossing the Rio Grande. But rather than arresting the immigrants, the officers are gathering intelligence on the smugglers and smuggling bosses tied to Mexican cartels.

With a visual style that alternates between intimate verité moments, meditative reflection and suspenseful sequences, the film tells the story of Chief Ramon Gonzalez, detective Manuel Casas and officer Mayra Garza, as they navigate the complexities of their existence on the border. As irony would have it, the area they are patrolling was once Mexican national territory.

Slowly the mutual dependence between police and smuggler reveals a system stuck in a never-ending cycle, with the immigrant dangerously caught in between. Meanwhile, the human cost of border enforcement starts taking a personal toll on the protagonists.

Credits
Director
Executive producer
    Manny Rodriquez,
    Enrique Leal,
    Manon Tsang,
    Mascha Arkink
Editing
    Lot Rossmark
    Lot Rossmark
Sound
    Matthijs Klijn,
    Charlie Vela
    Matthijs Klijn,
    Charlie Vela
Sound Design
    Kamila Wójcik
    Kamila Wójcik
Music
    Minco Eggersman,
    Mariana Cortesão
    Minco Eggersman,
    Mariana Cortesão
Involved TV Channel
    EO
    EO
Distribution for the Netherlands
    Amstelfilm
    Amstelfilm
Screening copy
    Tangerine Tree
    Tangerine Tree

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