Interview with the director

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2009/08/24/which-way-home-director-on-child-migrants/

After winning critical kudos for her 2002 documentary “Sister Helen,” about a nun’s halfway house for recovering addicts and alcoholics, director Rebecca Cammisa turned her attention to a completely different subject for her next project: Latin American child migrants trying to make their way to the U.S. Introduced to the topic by a Mexican-American friend from Texas, Cammisa, a native New Yorker with no ties to border issues, launched headfirst into the project. Seven years later, after a series of financing and production delays, “Which Way Home” is finally making its television debut tonight on HBO. Speakeasy spoke to Cammisa about the challenges associated with tackling such a topic.

Wall Street Journal: Given that you weren’t too familiar with the subject of child migration, you must have done a ton of research before heading into the field.

Rebecca Cammisa: I started doing research back in 2002, reading books and articles by reporters who had done the journey, and were well-versed in migrant issues and border stories. I also looked for a film called “El Norte,” which is a fiction film, but it is also the story of two young Guatemalans who have to flee their country and get to the United States, so it was the one bit of visual information I was able to digest. Because at the time, there weren’t a lot of films about the subject, although things have changed since then. So I felt there needed to be a film. I just didn’t think it would take six and half years to make it.

To shoot this documentary, you and your crew rode alongside child migrants on freight trains destined for the U.S. Were you ever tempted to take more direct action to help the kids?

I could have stepped in, but I don’t think that’s particularly my place. Perhaps if I had been more ingrained in that culture… When one knows more, one should step in, but when one doesn’t, one should probably mind one’s one business and keep your eyes open, but your mouth shut.

We were also very clear about making it understood to the kids that we weren’t there to feed or transport or support them, because we didn’t want to incentivize them. We would actually try to talk them out of going, and were constantly warning them and making them aware they had a choice, but they would say things to us like, ‘Don’t scare us, stop it, we’re going anyway.’ It’s hard — kids are so impressionable, that we wanted to make sure they weren’t seeing us an incentive to keep going.

How big was your crew?

In the field, there were four of us: a driver, a sound man, a cameraman/field producer and myself, the director, who was also a camera person as well.

Hoe did you plan your filming schedule?

It depended on our situation on the ground. We would decide where we could find the most people, and therefore, find more children. We were sometimes allowed to go to shelters that housed migrants and children, and we were also allowed to go to detention centers at certain times, where we met Juan Carlos. Other times, we came across children on the train tracks, such as Kevin and Fito (pictured). The Mexican immigration officials were helpful and granted us a lot of access, because they wanted to raise awareness about this issue, as well disprove their bad reputation to the public.

Given the difficult nature of finding funding for serious docs, you had to start and stop your shooting several times. How did this affect your choice of featured subjects?

It was very problematic, because even if people are interested in being a part of the film for a short window, that doesn’t mean they want to be a part of it later. Also, because we were dealing with tough issues like child smuggling and undocumented workers, the people we spoke to might agree to participate for a little while, but they get scared off. So what ended up happening was that every time I had to start and stop, I had to find new subjects. It was daunting to say the least.

Were there any children you lost track of, but wish you hadn’t?

I would very much have liked to travel with Olga and Freddy, two children trying to reach their parents on the road [and are featured briefly in "Which Way Home"]. That was the film I originally set out to make, but what ended up happening was that we met a lot of different children on the road with a lot of different reasons to travel, so my original story got broader. There was another child that was trying to get to his parents, but he got really scared, so we immediately stopped, thanked him and he went on his way.