One of the more heated political issues during this presidential debacle race has been "The Wall." Immigrants rights, jobs, deportation, have been some of the hot buttons the Republicans have been banging their fists on for over a year. Even before a certain orange candidate increased the anti-immigrant volume, Moises Serrano had been vocal about his "multifaceted identity."
On the surface, Moises Serrano's story sounds like one of many. But as an undocumented Mexican immigrant who also identifies as gay, the complexities of his identity are what makes the documentary he stars in that much more significant.
Forbidden: Undocumented and Queer in Rural America illustrates the multifaceted identity that Serrano holds, as he speaks on panels for undocumented immigrants as well as rallies at Pride events. Filmmaker Tiffany Rhynard showcases how these identities are not linear, but more so how they inform each other throughout Serrano's life. He says that whenever he "comes out" it can apply to either his sexual orientation or his undocumented identity.
"One of the defining aspects of my childhood was always feeling alone," Serrano told Manuel Betancourt at Remezcla. "Always being alone because I was gay. And then on top of that the different layers of oppression: being Mexican, being an immigrant, being undocumented. It just made me so much more alien."
Like many immigrant rights' activists, Serrano fought for the DREAM act as well as for DACA and DAPA, but not without consequences. As seen in the film, when his sister's employer found out that she was undocumented, just like her brother, she lost her job. – latina.com
"I hate to see my family have to cry on film in order to humanize this issue," he said. "[I'm] doing it because I know that we can change people's hearts and minds and hopefully build a better narrative of immigrants in this country."
The film will premiere at this year's Outfest LA, the leading organization that promotes LGBT equality by creating, sharing and protecting LGBT stories on the screen. – latina.com
For a little bit of "Forbidden," here a 12 min cut from linktv.org. "Part of a longer format documentary premiering at Outfest in Los Angeles today, July 12, 2016."
Thank you Moises Serrano for sharing a part of your life in this documentary. We look forward to seeing the entire film soon.
Instincters, were any of you able to see the documentary in L.A. tonight?
h/t:
https://vimeo.com/170981087