Growing Up Transborder

This project engages the social, symbolic, and political processes through which indigenous Mexican im/migrant youth in California navigate and challenge ethnic hierarchies at school and in farm work, multi-layered citizenship, understandings of indigeneity, political and social borders, and multiple forms of violence. This project involves ethnographic field work and a collaborative documentary film.

Screenings

• The First Time Home directors Esmirna Librado and Noemi Librado Sanchez and producer Seth Holmes discussed the film and their experiences on PBS Northwest Now. Watch the interview here: https://video.kbtc.org/video/first-time-home-bnj243/

• UiT The Arctic University of Norway will be screening First Time Home at the Harstad Kino on February 9th

• First Time Home is honored to be virtually screened at the 2023 Spokane International Film Festival from February 3rd - 9th via Eventive

• The 27th ANNUAL SACRAMENTO FILM AWARDS will be presenting First Time Home with the Outstanding Cine Latino Award on Friday, January 23rd from 7:00-10:00 PM. The award ceremony will be hosted virtually, and more information can be found here.

• Eastern Washington University is offering a free screening of the short film, First Time Home, from 5:30-7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 19, at the Showalter Hall Auditorium and live-streamed via Zoom. More information can be found here.

• Primera Vez en Casa se transmitirá el 11 de Diciembre 8:30PM en la Cineteca Nacional de Mexico en la Semana de Cine Migrante! First Time Home will be shown December 11th at 8:30PM at the National Cineteca in Mexico City in the Week of Migrant Film!

• The Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival has included First Time Home in their online showcase from November 14-28th.

• On November 12th, the Association of Latina and Latino Anthropologists (ALLA) will present First Time Home: Film Presentation & Discussion with co-director Esmirna Librado, co-director Noemi Librado-Sanchez, and producer Seth Holmes.

• On November 10th, the Society for Visual Anthropology Film & Media Festival will screen First Time Home and hold a Q&A session at the 2022 AAA Annual Meeting in Seattle, WA.

• The UC Berkeley Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) is pleased to announce that their free and in-person CineLatino screenings will include film First Time Home on October 28th at 5:00 PM. After the screening, co-directors Esmirna Librado, Noemi Librado Sanchez, Esmeralda Ventura, and Heriberto Ventura will be in conversation with Seth Holmes (Producer and Chancellor's Professor in Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management) and Natalia Brizuela (CLAS Chair and Professor of Spanish & Portuguese and Film & Media).

• The San Francisco Latino Film Festival will be screening First Time Home at the Roxie Theater on October 20th and October 23rd!

• First Time Home will be apart of the Program 1-Little Stars in the 2022 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival on October 19th at 3:00 PM.

• First Time Home is thrilled to be screened at the 18th Santa Cruz Film Festival on October 7th.

• The Virginia Hispanic Film Festival screened First Time Home at the Arts Council of the Valley.

• First Time Home will be screened at the Arte Américas on August 5 at 5:00 PM.

• We are honored that the film will be shown in the University of Porto Institute of Sociology Summer School "Racismo, Migrações e Xenofobia" on July 6th in Porto, Portugal! For more information: https://isociologia.up.pt/media/825

• We are pleased to announce that First Time Home has been selected for inclusion in the 21st Annual Reel Work May Day Labor Film Festival in 2022 based in Santa Cruz County, CA and will be screened online until June 6th.

• First Time Home will be screened at Fresno City College on May 11th at 7 pm!

• Back by popular demand at the Lincoln Theater on May 5 / El 5 de Mayo!

• Starting May 5th, First Time Home will be screened during the Reel Work Labor Film Festival.

• First Time Home is excited to be part of the Humboldt International Film Festival in person in Arcata, CA, and streaming online from April 18th-April 23rd!

• The Magic Lantern Theatre will screen First Time Home on April 22, 2022 at 7:00 pm PST with a panel discussion following the film screening.

• First Time Home will be screened at the Pickford Theater in Bellingham on April 16th.

• The film will be screening at the Lincoln Theater in Mount Vernon on April 14th!

• The Watsonville Film Festival will be streaming our film free online starting March 11th! Stream online here.

• First Time Home is an official selection of the San Diego Latino Film Festival and can be streamed online starting March 13th!

• The Smithsonian Museum will start streaming our film free online as an official selection of the Mother Tongue Film Festival from February 17, 2022, to March 4, 2022! Stream online here.

• FIRST TIME HOME will be premiering at the Portland Film Festival which takes place from October 6th to November 8th. Additional information for viewing the film can be found here.

University Discussion Guide

Check out our discussion guide to use in conjunction with academic screenings of First Time Home.

Press

1. American Anthropologist: Immigrant Farmworker Youth’s Right to Aspire: A Review of Two Films

2. Visual Anthropology: Mesoamerican Indigenous Youth in the United States

3. The Easterner: Short Film ‘First Time Home’ Inspires and Illuminates

4. The Madera Tribune: ‘First Time Home’

5. La Jornada: El lunes inicia la Semana de Cine Migrante en la Cineteca Nacional (On Monday the Migrant Film Week begins at the Cineteca Nacional)

6. Civil Eats: A New Film Documents the Immigrant Farmworker Journey

7. Radio Bilingüe: Interview on First Time Home / Primera Vez en Casa on "Linea Abierta" of Radio Bilingüe of Fresno and Oakland, CA

8. The Fresno Bee: 4 children of Triqui immigrants co-directed a film

9. The Spokesman Review: ‘First Time Home’: four cousins search their roots

10. The Fig Tree: Seth Holmes produces film with farm workers and indigenous teens’ families

11. Cascadia Daily News: Young filmmakers cross borders to find family

12. goSkagit: Award-winning film by local women to be shown at Lincoln Theatre

13. KFCF Fresno: Down on the Farm Interview

14. San Diego Union Tribune: They visited an ailing grandfather in Oaxaca, and found pieces of their own identities in the process

15. USA Today: Can movies help save the world's dying languages? New wave of Indigenous films share untold stories

16. Smithsonian Museum Folklife: Legacy through the Filmmaker’s Lens: Insights from Mother Tongue Directors

17. NPR Oregon Public Broadcasting: Documentary explores the meaning of family across borders by Elizabeth Castillo

18. NPR Valley Public Radio: Documentary film by Madera teens wins at Portland Film Festival

19. goSkagit: "First Time Home" — young filmmakers document lives of family in U.S., Mexico

20. The Spokesman-Review: Local award-winning film ‘First Time Home’ shines light on plight of farmworkers

21. Portland Film Festival Meet the Director’s Panel

22. Portland Film Festival Indigenous Families Separated by Borders, United Panel

Awards