Green Water
2022 · 16m · USA
Directed by Carlos Estrada
Genres: drama
Tones: melancholic, tender
When an ICE raid tears their undocumented mother from her workplace, college-bound Erik must abandon his future plans and become the guardian of his younger sister Nora. Told from the perspective of American-raised children left behind, the film captures the pervasive fear and uncertainty that defines the undocumented immigrant experience.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Kids left behind after an ICE raid, shot on 16mm. The angle — centering the American-raised siblings, not the journey — is the right one, even if the genre is well-trod.
Estrada inverts the immigrant-journey trope by staying with the children left behind — a structural choice that recalls Sean Baker's commitment to the perspective most often elided. 16mm grain serves the intimacy rather than aestheticizing it.
Shifting the ICE-raid story to the American-raised children left behind is the right narrative reframe, and shooting on 16mm gives the premature-adulthood tone its emotional grain. 3,022 views is quiet so the craft has to do the heavy lifting; runtime of 16:23 should accommodate it.
Reviews
In Green Water, writer/director Carlos Estrada captures an integral part of the American undocumented immigrant experience — a pervasive uncertainty of the future and the fear that generates. The emotional strength of the film comes from both the authenticity of the storytelling and the intimacy Estrada crafts in the film.
Festivals
- Cinequest Film Festival 2023, Winner
- Dallas International Film Festival 2023, Winner
- Houston Latino Film Festival 2023, Winner
- Hill Country Film Festival 2023, Winner
- New York Latino Film Festival 2023
- New Orleans Film Festival 2022
- Montclair Film Festival 2023
- Indie Memphis 2022
- Phoenix Film Festival 2023
- Philadelphia Latino Film Festival 2023