“Border Hopper” at CLACSO.CINE
As the second chapter of his cycle, CLACSO.CINE presents Border Hopper from the director Nico Casavecchia.
Interviewed by Gustavo Lema
Synopsis:
Laura, a Latina filmmaker, lands a life-changing career opportunity when she's hired to direct a Super Bowl commercial for a video game. The problem? The shoot is in Europe, and she can't travel due to her immigration status, a secret she's kept from her bosses. This creates friction with her husband, Jorge, whose residency permit depends on hers. Laura decides to apply for a complicated emergency travel permit to accept the job. Her reality takes a surreal turn when she begins hallucinating a nightmarish video game world.
A candy appears on Laura's phone screen. When she bites into it, she's transported into the game world. There, she has a vision in which her phone calls immigration services. The next morning, after eating another candy, she's confronted by a multi-headed monster that spits out the confusing immigration services phone menu. After killing the creature, she manages to speak to an official who gives her an appointment for an official interview.
That night, Jorge accuses Laura of prioritizing her career over their relationship and her immigration status. Soon, they are both drawn into the world of sweets, where their argument escalates into a video game battle.
Laura's hallucinations intensify, leading her to a nightmarish, multicolored immigration office, where she pleads her case before an inflexible official. Her permit application is denied. Miraculously, that afternoon, Laura's official travel and work permit arrives, nearly a year late. The journey continues.
On the way to the airport, Laura reads the fine print of the permit: it's not valid for travel! Panicked, she forces Jorge to stop the car. Desperate, she plunges back into the world of the game, now with a storm of immigration papers swirling around them both. In this frenzy, a candy ladder forms. Laura climbs it, searching for a way out; Jorge chases after her, but trips and falls. Laura manages to save him.
Back in reality, their situation is desperate. Jorge, risking everything, urges Laura to face her fears and travel. They hug and head to the airport, where Laura departs.
Weeks later, two envelopes arrive. Jorge opens one and finds a residence permit in perfect condition. Hypnotized, he stares at it in disbelief. As he processes his new reality, a piece of candy falls from the envelope. He stares at it for a second and then eats it.
The director says Nico Casavecchia:
“In 1999, I was 19 years old and I left Buenos Aires to do a three-month internship in Europe. A few weeks before my return, the Argentine economy collapsed. Suddenly, I no longer had a country to return to. I decided to stay and make a life for myself in Barcelona, but soon my visa expired and I became an 'illegal immigrant'. It took me three years and countless hours filling out forms, standing in lines, and accepting rejection with a smile to become 'legal' in Europe.”
A decade later, I emigrated again, this time to the United States, as a professional filmmaker. By then, I was what in the United States is considered an 'extraordinary talent alien,' perhaps the epitome of immigration jargon.
'Border Hopper' is a critique of the absurdity of American immigration bureaucracy that combines magical realism and horror.
But being a first-class immigrant didn't mean everything was perfect. I faced the same frictions, economic pressures, and emotional abuse that all first-world countries inflict on immigrants, especially people of color from developing countries.
I wrote 'Border Hopper' as a way to process the most stressful experience of my career: being stuck in limbo waiting for my green card because of Trump's fascist immigration policies. I had to choose between keeping my immigration status or taking a life-changing job that would take me abroad. By choosing to travel, I jeopardized the green card process, which had depleted all my savings and was my wife's only chance to work in the United States.
During the events that inspired the film, my wife and I realized how the situation unfolded like the best thrillers: each moment creating the perfect conditions for the next. We decided to take notes simply to cope, hoping that one day we could sublimate our personal struggle into art, in an attempt at poetic revenge. Months later, we began writing 'Border Hopper' as a gripping horror film about immigration.
In the film, I use all my filmmaking experience to immerse the audience in the stress and surreal absurdity of U.S. immigration bureaucracy, while also poking fun at my tribe: the privileged, laptop-wielding Latino class. I am well aware that nothing in my life can compare to the struggles and hardships of my fellow immigrants crossing the border fleeing hunger, violence, and poverty.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
