Natalia Almada

I sat in on another class yesterday evening run by Professor Olga Hubard. She had invited the filmaker Natalia Almada to show extracts from her films and to speak about them and answer questions. The films were extraordinary. The one she showed in detail was AL OTRO LADO (To The Other Side) "An aspiring corrido composer from the drug capital of Mexico, faces two choices to better his life: to traffic drugs or to cross the border illegally into the United States. From Sinaloa, Mexico, to the streets of Central and East L.A, Al Otro Lado, explores the world of drug smuggling,illegal immigration and the corrido music that chronicles it all."
What was fascinating about the film was the way the film maker engaged with her subjects through their own stories which allowed for an openness and honesty in relation to the painful lives and choices the people from this incredibly economically poor community had to make.