Filmmaker presents screening of "Invisible Mexicans of Deer Canyon"

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
March 9, 2007

Award-winning filmmaker John Carlos Frey will present a screening of “The Invisible Mexicans of Deer Canyon” 6 p.m. March 21 in the LBJ Student Center teaching theater at Texas State University-San Marcos.

The screening is sponsored by the School of Journalism & Mass Communication and the Center for Multicultural and Gender Studies. The screening is free and open to the public.

The documentary provides an in-depth portrayal of Frey’s year-long journey into San Diego’s underbelly of impoverished Mexican migrant communities.  Frey said he aspires to promote awareness and diminish stereotypes concerning Mexican immigrants. 

“The reason for exposing this seldom seen world is to help dispel media rhetoric that these so called ‘illegal aliens’ are robbing our jobs, destroying American society or even possible terrorists,” Frey said.  “‘The Invisible Mexicans of Deer Canyon’ is an opportunity for the audience to see the issue of illegal immigration from the perspective of the immigrants themselves.”

Frey and acclaimed photojournalist Alicia Wagner Calzada will also speak at Texas State's School of Journalism and Mass Communication's Spring Symposium at 10 a.m. March 22 in Old Main 320.

Frey will speak of his work as a producer/director at the symposium, and will discuss his film to build awareness of the migrant workers who live in the shadows of San Diego’s most elite neighborhoods.

“Although the film is about a certain group of migrants living in the canyons of San Diego, it is representative of how millions of undocumented immigrants live and work in American society,” Frey said.

At 1 p.m., Calzada will present her photographs and speak about the craft of photojournalism.  Calzada’s photographs of celebrities, world leaders and events from all over the world have been published in major publications, such as Time Books, the Houston Chronicle, National Geographic and U.S. News & World Report.  

For more information, please contact Dave Nolan at (512) 245-9653 or via email at dn15@txstate.edu.