1	BOOKS “Colored Men” and “Hombres Aquí,” a new study of U.S. Supreme Court case Hernandez vs. Texas, aims to restore the case’s rightful place in American history. read more...
2	FILM & TV A Q&A with television producer Gayla Jamison, creator of the documentary Lives For Sale, which airs its true and tough tales of border crossings this month. read more...
3	MUSIC Hardcore rapper Pitbull shows his sensitive side while exploring his Cuban-American roots in El Mariel, his sophomore release. read more...
4	CALENDAR Our monthly list of premier events throughout the U.S. read more...

THE LATIN FORUM

FIlm & TV

Trail of Tears

Life in other countries: Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, is very hard,” says Yanori, a young woman who has just left her 1-year-old behind in her native Honduras in hopes of emigrating illegally to the U.S. to find work. “There is so much poverty, sometimes we don’t have anything to eat, sometimes only a tortilla with salt. ... From here we are going to take the train.”
Yanori and several others stand in the pouring rain in southern Mexico waiting for a cargo train to pass. As the train cars come into view, they run to grab on a rusty rail and hoist themselves up to the top where they risks dismemberment, repeated rape (which is so common, women prepare for it by taking birth control pills before the trip), robbery, falling or death along the 1,500-mile, three-day journey to the border.
“We are trusting in God that everything turns out all right, that we get there,” she says.“Everything in life involves a risk, right?”
The uncertain fate of Yanori and other immigrants like her is the focus of the documentary Lives for Sale, premiering on PBS in January and continuing in February. Many immigrants, especially young women, find that their American dreams are dashed when they find they are at the mercy of those who charge high rates for smuggling them into the U.S., or even worse, promise employment and trick them into lives of indentured servitude, forced prostitution and modern-day slavery. “They are merchandise because they are just pounds of meat,” says a former pollero, or human smuggler, in the film.
Gayla Jamison, the film’s producer, writer and director, spoke to Hispanic Magazine about the process of making Lives for Sale, and where Yanori and the other subjects of her film find themselves today.
Hispanic Magazine: Where did the idea of Lives for Sale come from?
Gayla Jamison: It’s a co-production of Lightfoot Films and Maryknoll Productions. Larry Rich, the executive producer, and I have been working on projects for 11 years, and he approached me a couple of years ago about a documentary on sex trafficking into the U.S. I was very interested, and we decided to focus on a path from Central America to the border, though, this is only a small slice of the pie. As I began to do the research in September 2004, we talked to people who asked us not to look at this in a sensational way. Please look at the root causes, they told us. We realized trafficking victims come from desperate circumstances. In this country we don’t realize how desperate people can be, that immigration is really the only solution that’s viable.
HM: What was the preparation for such a taxing documentary like?
GJ: When I began to make preproduction trips into Mexico and along the border and Guatemala, I saw the routes that people take to el norte in search of the American Dream and it broke my heart, it is so dangerous. Most of them don’t have a lot of education and haven’t traveled far from their hometown. They are very vulnerable to deception by traffickers who work with recruiters. These are people from their community who offer dreams—food, work, medical attention. But when they get them to the U.S., they find themselves in conditions of slavery.

HM: Your film takes you from the border of Guatemala to Mexican coffee fields. Talk about the shooting process.
GJ: There were difficult locations. We were in Guatemala right before Hurricane Stan and there were torrential rains and our equipment was stolen. The other hard place was in the south of Mexico with the train. This doesn’t appear in the film, but we visited a shelter where amputees who lost their limbs on a train are cared for, get prostheses and go back to their country. It was hard to see people in their 20s whose lives are changed forever because they could not afford a coyote [guides who charge fees to cross illegal immigrants into the U.S.]. What we see in the doc are people who are getting on those trains. Yanori was getting ready to get on the train and she was wearing flip-flops. I told her those shoes were really dangerous, but she said it was all she had. We bought her shoes. She was brave enough to give us the interview; it was the least we could do. She would be riding the train in the rain for three days in soaking wet clothes.
The border was hard place No. 3. [It] was incredibly hot. While we were walking in the desert, I thought, ‘I would probably die in this desert, I don’t think I could make it.’ You have a bottle of water and it heats up quickly. It’s repulsive, but you have to drink it. I could see how people lose their way or die of exposure.
If everyone could just walk for an hour in their shoes and see what they sacrifice, and then realize that 20,000 end up as victims of human trafficking. If they try to get away or even turn themselves in, the traffickers threaten their families. This is the most difficult documentary I have ever made, and I’ve done human rights docs in Chile and Guatemala.

HM: How did you select your subjects?
GJ: I wish I could say I talked to many women. Service providers say that most victims of human trafficking have post-traumatic stress syndrome. To talk about it is re-traumatizing and service providers don’t let them near journalists. We chose personal stories that we know are going to touch the viewer. With Esperanza [a young woman who was forced into indentured servitude as a child], we never re-interviewed her, we recreated her story. With Lucita [a woman forced into prostitution] we worked with CAST, the oldest organization working with victims of human trafficking. They have survivors who have become spokespeople. It’s part of their healing process. Lucita said that every time she told her story, it felt like she was taking a part of her life back, but it took her a long time. Her story happened in 1977.

HM: Have you heard anything from your sources since you stopped shooting?
GJ: No, but I know that Esperanza is having psychological problems. She’ll be doing fine, but then something will trigger memories. The sentencing of her trafficker triggered some. We just hope that with support that she’ll be able to live a normal life.

For more information check local PBS listings or visit www.livesforsale.org.

Top 10 DVD Releases
February

1. A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints
(Release Date: February 20; Rated: R; Drama)
Dito grows up in 1980s Astoria, New York amidst drugs, murder and other dangers, and the only ones who can save him from falling into danger are his saints.
2. Amar te Duele
(Release Date: December 26; Rated R; Drama)
Romeo and Juliet is retold in the wealthy neighborhoods of modern day Mexico City in this award-winning international film.
3. Bandidas
(Release Date: January 9; Rated: PG-13; Action)
Sisters Sara and Maria, played by Salma Hayek and Penélope Cruz, seek revenge after their father is murdered.
4. Cocaine Cowboys
(Release Date: January 23; Rated: R; Documentary)
Set in 1980s Miami, this documentary explores the culture of cocaine and the drug trade’s major players.
5. Flushed Away
(Release Date: February 1; Not Rated; Family)
An upper-class house mouse is flushed down the toilet, and he discovers a new world in the sewers.
6. Half Nelson
(Release date: February 13; Rated: R; Drama)
Brooklyn teacher Ryan Gosling finds it hard enough to connect with his middle-school students when one of his students discovers his secret drug addiction.
7. Hollywoodland
(Release Date: February 6; Rated: R; Suspense)
Members of the Hollywood elite are suspicious when aspiring actor and director George Reeves is found dead. Based on actual events.
8. Marie Antoinette
(Release Date: February 13; Rated: PG-13; Drama)
Kirsten Dunst stars as France’s most controversial and spendthrift queen.
9. Man of The Year
(Release Date: February 20; Rated PG-13; Comedy)
Robin Williams is a former “Daily Show-esque” comedian who suddenly finds himself in the Oval Office.
10. The Prestige
(Release Date: February 20; Rated: PG-13; Drama)
In early 20th century London two magicians vie for decades for the attention of one woman, played by Scarlett Johansson.