We are pleased to let you know about a FREE ONLINE SCREENING of the film Call Center Blues. Call Center Blues is a lyrical portrait of an unlikely community of U.S. deportees and their loved ones struggling to rebuild their lives in Tijuana, Mexico. Directed by Geeta Gandbhir, the film follows four characters as they struggle to make sense of their lives in Tijuana. Each with a vastly different story, they are all linked by their displacement and the sole choice of call center work they have in a country that is so unfamiliar and oftentimes frightening, yet other times a ray of hope. Tijuana becomes their home, a place defined by the border but yet defiant towards it, a no man’s land where everything and everyone feels transient. These characters paint a picture of love, loss and longing – for home, for an American Dream deferred, and for justice.
A film still from Call Center Blues
Gandbhir explains,
As someone who grew up first generation in a large immigrant family of color, I was always aware of my place in society as a perceived outsider although I was born in the US. This generated many questions for me regarding what it means to be an American, what it means to feel displaced or otherized even if you legally belong.
The experience of deported community to me was always important because it encompasses so many issues specific to migration, displacement and marginalization at the whim of power structures that have the legal right to banish people from the only home they know. The voices of the people in this community are underrepresented in the media. I always felt they were missing in the dominant narratives around migration. CALL CENTER BLUES is a window into this unique community, a look at what it means to try to rebuild one’s life while trying to reconcile one’s love for a home country that no longer returns that love.
Follow this link for an in-depth interview with Geeta Gandbhir.
The film was scheduled to premiere at SXSW this March. While SXSW was canceled, all of us have the opportunity to screen the film FOR FREE for the next few weeks following this link.
Re-imagining Migration will be developing a discussion guide for the film soon. We would love to hear from educators and community members interested in using the film. Reach out to adam@reimaginingmigration.org.