spotlight forbidden: undocumented and queer in rural america
into this project. I’m still amazed by her willingness to work for it and her commitment to this film, even during the times when I didn’t have the vision for it. I had come out as queer and undocumented in
2010 and had built a reputation for speaking out. In 2012, I was doing a project in partnership with Wake Forest University, filming local narratives from immigrants and refugees and I was one of the narratives. On the day I did mine with Kathi Barnhill—who ended up being a coproducer and the cinematographer for Forbidden—her friend Tiffany Rhynard happened to be there visiting that day. As they started to interview me, Tiffany and I just sort of clicked. She considers herself pretty liberal and defines herself as a “Woke white woman.” For her to realize how little she knew about the undocumented immigrant community, it really just floored her. She wasn’t prepared to think about the privilege of having citizenship. That’s how this project got started, based on those truths. What was the process of filming like? Document- ing your life so continuously is very intimate and in many ways invasive. The process was maybe a little easier because of
my relationship with the director. I trusted Tiffany, I still do and she really put me at ease. She made me feel that this story wasn’t going to be distorted in any way and that she wanted it to be as straightfor- ward as possible. I think it’s exactly what we see in Forbidden. That goes the same for my family, too. My parents didn’t know what I was doing and she managed to gain their trust, as well.
38 RAGE monthly | SEPTEMBER 2017
It’s a layering of oppres- sion and a layering of
discrimination that I think
as human beings we’re just not prepared for. I think fundamentally we all want to belong, whether it’s in
our families, our communi- ties or wherever, human
beings are social animals. That is how we evolved and how we survived.”
You started this in 2012, finished the project in 2014, then premiered in 2016. We have a new administration since then. How has that altered your perspective on things since you premiered the film? I think the instability this administration has brought, is terrifying. Before with the Obama administration, we at least knew where we stood. His administration implemented deferred action for childhood arrivals and decided to continue this program. Right now, whether the Trump administration will continue or end this program, that uncertainty is pretty terrifying. Though the
comparison has to be made that both administrations are similar in many ways. Obama does have the distinction of deport- ing the most undocumented immigrants from this country and that’s a fact we just can’t ignore. I’m interested to know how the response has been to the film and its messages. The response to Forbidden has always amazed me. We’ve had several standing ovations and it always completely floors me. The most common response and feedback that we get is, “I just didn’t know.” And I think that is what the goal of this documentary is for me, to be educational. I feel it’s very good at building a narrative around what my character is and who I am. It also presents the legal challenges and obstacles, we have Amber Murray, who is an exceptional immigration attorney talk- ing about how hard it is and the realities of the immigration issue. Educating America is the goal of this documentary. I would dare to say that we’ve been pretty successful so far and I’m proud of that.
Forbidden: Undocumented And Queer In Rural American premiered in August on Logo Documen- tary Films. They will continue to air the TV version ofForbidden throughout the next nine months. For more scheduling information and to view a trailer, go
tologotv.com/shows/logo-documentary-films.
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