Sin País
dir. Theo Rigby
Stanford University, USA
Synopsis:
Sin País (Without Country) attempts to get beyond the partisan politics and mainstream media’s ‘talking point’ approach to immigration issues by exploring one family’s complex and emotional journey involving deportation. In 1992, Sam and Elida Mejia left Guatemala during a violent civil war and brought their one-year old son, Gilbert, to California. The Mejia’s settled in the Bay Area, and for the past 17 years they have worked multiple jobs to support their family, paid their taxes, and saved enough to buy a home. They had two more children, Helen and Dulce, who are both U.S. citizens.
Two years ago, immigration agents stormed the Mejia’s house looking for someone who didn’t live there. Sam, Elida, and Gilbert were undocumented and became deeply entangled in the U.S. immigration system. Sin País begins two weeks before Sam and Elida’s scheduled deportation date. After a passionate fight to keep the family together, Sam and Elida are deported and take Dulce with them back to Guatemala. With intimate access and striking imagery, Sin País explores the complexities of the Mejia’s new reality of a separated family — parents without their children, and children without their parents.
Director:
Theo Rigby is a freelance Documentary filmmaker and photographer based out of San Francisco. He creates social and political documentary projects with still and moving images. Theo has focused on topics ranging from the war in Iraq, to incarceration, and most recently, immigration in the U.S. His first film, My First War, about the first 44 days of the war in Iraq, won awards and was accepted in numerous festivals. His short film Close to Home was a National Finalist in the 2009 Student Academy Awards, won a Golden Eagle Award, special Jury mention at the 2010 Ashland Independent film festival and has been accepted into more than a dozen film festivals.
Theo has shot still photographs for Newsweek, The New York Times, National Geographic France, People magazine, and many other National and International publications. His still photographic work has been exhibited at San Francisco City Hall, and at the 2005 Visa Pour L’Image festival in Perpignan, France.
Theo also has a passion for education and has taught undergraduate documentary photography, as well as starting and directing an after-school digital storytelling program for immigrant youth in San Francisco. He recently graduated with a M.F.A. in Documentary Film from Stanford University.