2012, DVD, 99 minutes
Directed by Chantal Akerman
Courtesy of Icarus Films

For years immigrants passed through San Diego, but cutting-edge technologies have helped stem the flow of illegal immigration there. This leaves only the mountains and deserts of Arizona for those desperate enough to try their luck. And it is here that Akerman shifts her focus, between Agua Prieta, Sonora, and Douglas, Arizona, and the desert in between. Mixing evocative landscapes with interviews with the families of immigrants, American sheriffs, fearful locals, and advocates, FROM THE OTHER SIDE is “A spare, painterly and scrupulously unsentimental look. Both eerily beautiful and filled with a quiet compassion.” —Dave Kehr, The New York Times.