Train to Nowhere; Inside an Immigrant Death Investigation, a just-completed documentary about those connected to the 2002 railcar deaths of eleven undocumented immigrants, will have its television premiere next month on Iowa Public Television. Advance screenings will also be held in three Iowa cities in October.
Film synopsis: When the bodies of eleven Central Americans and Mexicans were found inside a freight car in Denison, Iowa, the nation took notice. Reporters descended on the small farming community, searching for information about how and why this group ended up inside a locked railcar, where they would die horrific deaths. yet compassionate look at the 2002 railcar deaths of the eleven undocumented immigrants. It takes the viewers from the streets of southern Texas, to the hills of a Guatemalan farm, to the Iowa town where the bodies were found.
immigration story in examining the case from various viewpoints: that of one victim's New York brother, a long-time immigration agent, and a train conductor imprisoned for working with the smugglers who locked the railcar to throw off U.S. Border Patrol inspectors. Viewers will see beyond the superficial levels of the people involved in the story and understand the complexities of their personalities and the situation. The older brother from Guatemala, once an undocumented immigrant himself, struggles with anger and, sometimes, guilt. Even though he urged his little brother to remain in Central America, his own financial success showed the younger man what could be achieved. The immigration agent, who traveled north as a boy with his migrant farm worker grandfather and father, believes in strict border control yet often encounters those who question his loyalty to the United States because of his Mexican heritage. The former train conductor, once paid to help slip people into the United States by train, argues that he was trying to help the immigrants gain a chance at better lives. This is a crime story that also illustrates how immigration is such a complex issue, far from black and white.
The documentary, Train to Nowhere; Inside an Immigrant Death Investigation offers an honest, The film is part crime story, part immigration perspective. It breaks free of the standard Train to Nowhere is scheduled to air Tuesday, Oct. 12, at 7 p.m. CST on Iowa Public Television, the PBS affiliate covering the state of Iowa. A trailer for the film may be seen at www.TrainToNowhere.com
Train to Nowhere was directed and co-produced by Paul Kakert, the Davenport-based president of Storytellers International. Colleen Bradford Krantz, a journalist-turned-author from Adel, Iowa, wrote and co-produced the documentary.
Advance screenings of Train to Nowhere will be held in the Davenport, Des Moines and Denison areas in early October. Admission is free and donations to Storytellers International, a 501c3 non-profit that produced the film, are appreciated.
Advance screenings:
Sunday, Oct. 3 at 3 p.m., Iowa Public Television's Maytag
1) Des Moines-area advance screening: Auditorium, Johnston, Iowa.
2) Davenport advance screening: Sunday, Oct. 10 at 2 p.m., Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa.
3) Denison advance screening: TBA
One viewer described the documentary as "kind of a CSI thing" with Iowa ties. However, it has been the immigration perspective's balance that endeared it to some of its first viewers, including one who wrote: "I thought it was very powerful, in a way that I didn't anticipate. I was very much drawn in by the characters ... As filmmakers, you've chosen a distance to the material that I think is just right. If this were presented from the POV of an advocate (either a pro or a con) no one would really listen - the film would be viewed through prejudiced eyes, unconsciously. I had never really thought of that before: The best way to truly communicate anything concerning immigration requires a certain distance from the field of battle. It sounds paradoxical, but to really get people to connect deeply with this topic, you have to maintain a bit of distance in that respect. I think you gauged it right."
Following the broadcast premiere of the one-hour version, the full version of the film will be available on DVD and may be purchased at the film website www.TrainToNowhere.com. In addition to the IPTV broadcast and DVD distribution, Storytellers International has worked with a high school social studies teacher who developed a lesson plan to go with the DVD. Educational bundles including the DVD and lesson plan for high school students are available for schools to purchase. (The content may be difficult for those under age 13).
Storytellers International, a non-profit dedicated to producing documentaries, was awarded a Humanities Iowa grant to help complete the documentary. The film is the first to be released by Storytellers International, a 501(c)3 non-profit charitable organization founded by Davenport filmmaker Paul Kakert. Kakert has been involved in video and animation production in the Quad Cities, and nationally, since 1991. In 2009 he founded Storytellers International to produce, promote and distribute documentary films from around the world.
The organization recently launched www.DocumentaryTV.com as a film enthusiast website and community interaction portal for promoting its films and receiving feedback and story ideas for its viewers and supporters.
Colleen Bradford Krantz, a former Des Moines Register reporter, has written a book, also called "Train to Nowhere; Inside an Immigrant Death Investigation," which served as the basis for the documentary. The book will be released in spring 2011 by Ice Cube Books, an Iowa-based publisher. Advance purchases of the book are possible through www.Amazon.com
The documentary and book describe events leading up to the deaths of the undocumented immigrants, and the subsequent criminal investigation. The bodies were discovered by a grain elevator worker in Denison, Iowa in October 2002. The eleven died of dehydration and hyperthermia (abnormally high body temperature) in June 2002 after smugglers locked them inside the railcar to avoid detection by Border Patrol. The railcar's door could not be unlocked from inside. The smugglers eventually lost track of the train, and those inside died within a day or two. Four people were charged in connection with the deaths.
The documentary is supported by Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The views and opinions expressed by the program do not necessarily reflect those of Humanities Iowa or the National Endowment for the Humanities.
