From paper to producing
Bethel University student team produced a documentary, which premiered Oct. 12.
By Luca Lombardi and Bella Haveman
Soraya Keiser watches the fireworks go off in explosive pops, illuminating the Midwestern sky with red, white, and blue. This Fourth of July, she’s not celebrating in her home city of Milwaukee. Instead, Keiser is on the tail end of her time with a family who had immigrated there from Guatemala, where she had interviewed and spent time getting to know them.
Keiser spent over a year going back and forth from Guatemala to the U.S. while producing a documentary entitled “Border of Dreams,” which she had started in Jan. 2022. This film explores the stories of two families who tried to immigrate to the U.S. for a better life. One made it. The other didn’t.
Keiser first went to Guatemala with Bethel University’s international social justice storytelling program, Textura, in search of a meaningful story to tell. With the help of adjunct professor Natalie Basterrachea and her production team, they found families willing to share their stories with reporters.
Keiser reflected on wanting to partner with Nataly after hearing about the courses she studied at Francisco Marroquin University.
“She wants to be a director,” Soraya said. “And so we were like… ‘We want you to be able to tell the story the way you want to.’”
Basterrachea wanted to be mindful about telling each family’s story in a way that did it justice. She was surprised with how open they were about telling their stories and didn’t want to take that for granted. This became especially apparent during her last interview with Mardequeo when she asked what advice he would give someone looking to live in America.
“Don’t,” he said through tears. “Don’t leave.”
Basterrachea was hit by his sincerity and vulnerability.
“I was super surprised because I thought I would never listen to that. He started crying, and it’s not like it makes me happy to make people cry, with me, it was just he was so emotional and honest with having to gain someone else’s trust to be sincere with you,” Basterrachea said.
