''Al otro lado'' is a 2005

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

about

illegal immigration Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwar ...

and

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...

between

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and the United States, addressing issues facing people north and south of the border, though the film mostly focuses on Magdiel, a 23-year-old fisherman and aspiring composer who dreams of a better life in the United States. ''Al otro lado'' was produced and directed by

Natalia Almada Natalia Almada is a Mexican-American photographer and filmmaker. Her work as a filmmaker focuses on Mexican history, politics, and culture in insightful and poetic films that push the boundaries of how the documentary form addresses social issues. ...

and was aired as part of

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

's '' POV'' series in 2006. It was met with critical acclaim and received a 78% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. It also received the Special Jury Prize and the Best Editing Award at the Cine Ceará Film Festival and was nominated for the

Gotham Award The Gotham Awards () are American film awards, presented annually to the makers of independent films at a ceremony in New York City, the city first nicknamed "Gotham" by native son Washington Irving, in an issue of ''Salmagundi'', published on ...

for Best Film Not Playing in a Theater Near You.

References

External links

P.O.V. ''Al Otro Lado''
- PBS's site dedicated to the film * Films about Mexican drug cartels 2005 films 2005 television films Documentary films about immigration to the United States Documentary films about the illegal drug trade 2005 documentary films 2000s Mexican films {{documentary-tv-film-stub