THE BRONX — A woman who spent 10 years in the borough working with undocumented teenagers is turning that experience into a movie that will premiere at this year's South by Southwest Film Festival.
The 89-minute movie "From Nowhere" focuses on three undocumented teenagers from Latin America and Africa who are about to graduate from a high school in The Bronx and are trying to figure out what they need to do to stay in the United States.
It takes place in The Bronx because the plot was inspired by the real life experience of Kate Ballen, a co-writer and co-producer on the film who spent a decade working with undocumented teenagers at a high school in the borough. She said she set the film in The Bronx to help make it feel more realistic.
"The kids, their stories were so moving," Ballen said, "and I wanted to alert, to give further voices to and have people become aware of how many teenagers there are that don’t have papers and are in schools across the country."
"From Nowhere" was mainly shot throughout The Bronx and aims to show how its adolescent characters are simultaneously dealing with the struggles of immigration and the more typical struggles that most teenagers deal with, according to Ballen.
"At the same time it tells the story of the struggles undocumented teenagers face, it also tells the story of what it’s like to be a teenager and fall in love, try to apply to college, while at the same time trying to navigate being undocumented," she said.
The movie was directed by Matthew Newton and stars Julianne Nicholson from Showtime's "Masters of Sex" as a teacher and Denis O'Hare from FX's "American Horror Story" as a corporate lawyer working to help the three teens stay in the country after they finish high school.
This year's SXSW film festival will take place in Austin from March 11 through March 19, but the specific date and time for the premiere of "From Nowhere" have not been set yet.
Newton said in a statement that he was very excited for the premiere and felt honored for the chance to publicize the stories of undocumented teenagers.
"'It’s a great privilege to help give a voice to a group of young people whose circumstances mean they can’t speak up for themselves," he said. "We shot the film on location on the streets of The Bronx and inside a real high school, and there was a true sense of immediacy to the characters’ challenges."
