Born in Monterrey, Mexico, Luis emigrated to Texas during his childhood. He studied Media Arts at Brigham Young University, where he learned to develop his voice as a filmmaker. His work currently focuses on the experience of immigrants living in the United States.

This film is about Maria Luisa and her husband Jorge as they are interviewed by a US immigration officer for Maria Luisa’s green card approval. My wife and I are Mexican immigrants to the US, and this film is based off her real-life green card interview.

Something I rarely see portrayed in film or television is the bureaucratic side of immigration. Yet, it is a topic that is frequented often in immigrant communities. A lot of people don’t realize what the “right” way of immigration looks like, and it’s a lot of lengthy and confusing forms. Between filing these forms, you enter long periods of limbo in which you don’t know if you’ll make it or not.

For a seemingly mundane process, the stakes are high. You may be granted an immigration status – whether that be a visa, green card, or citizenship – or you get deported. On top of that, immigrants often have to pay thousands of dollars in filing fees, and this is before any lawyer fees come into the mix.

All of this culminates in that one interview in which you hope that the person in front of you, who is a human being, woke up in a good mood so that they grant you legal immigration status.

I want to provide a glimpse into this reality that I hope garners empathy for the thousands and thousands of immigrants that go through this process every single day.