Regardless of which political side you fall on, our borders are one of the most discussed topics of the present day. Borders is a new film which presents the subject matter with an attribute you cannot receive from the news; an emotional context rooted in the lives of those most affected. Shu Zhu is the screenwriter and director of Borders who finds himself overwhelmed at the attention his film is receiving. An official selection of the Telluride Film Festival and recipient of nominations from the Rhode Island International Film Festival, Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood (US), and Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards, Borders has received awards from the Los Angeles Film Awards, New York Cinematography Awards, Canadian Cinematography Awards, Asian Cinematography Awards, and the Global Film Festival Awards. Even more exciting to Mr. Zhu than these accolades is the awareness that Borders is bringing a sense of humanity to the plight of people along the US/Mexico border rather than simply displaying data and statistics. As an award–winning filmmaker from Canada, Shu Zhu brings both artistic skill and an untethered perspective to this situation; one that is both poetic and starkly honest.
While political discussions concerning immigration are wide sweeping in an overgeneralizing manner, Borders has the license to make the topic intensely personal. What is the cost of the American Dream to both the individual and society? Can we hold onto the image of ourselves and our political, religious, and moral ideologies while others suffer? This film seeks to shine a light on those realities, providing a visceral, unfiltered look at the human costs of immigration policies and the perilous journeys undertaken in pursuit of a better life. Through this lens, the film fosters a deeper understanding and provokes conversations about what the American Dream means for those on the fringes of society, highlighting the personal stories behind the headlines. By focusing on the day-to-day experiences of a medical examiner in Arizona, Borders peels back layers on the real, grim outcomes of what happens when people risk everything to chase a brighter future in the US.
The audience witnesses the events of Borders through the experiences of Laura, a medical examiner in her early 40s, and her colleague Bill as they traverse the stark Arizona desert. This duo has the grim task of locating and processing bodies of those who have perished in their journey crossing the harsh environment. During her work, Laura’s review of the personal effects of the deceased brings into focus that they are not faceless masses but actual people with lives and families. Her discovery of a poignant photo of a father with his daughter is one of the most sobering moments of the film. During her methodical examination, she finds some loose coins and a fading photograph of a father holding his daughter. This immediately gives the migrant an identity, transforming him from a statistic into a person with a past and connections – a man who was loved and who was loved in return. However, as Laura places these personal items inside a document bag into a locker marked ‘unknowns’, that brief glimpse of his identity is stripped away, relegating his story back to anonymity, soon to be forgotten. This tragedy highlights the cruel reality of how individual lives and stories are often lost in the border crisis, only to be remembered as numbers or even forgotten entirely.
It feels impossible to avoid considering the reality of loved ones who perish in an attempt to simply provide a better for their loved ones. Shu remarks, “A key element of our strategy was to focus on the concept of absence – how the absence of these migrants can evoke a profound presence in the minds of the audience. We ended the film in a surreal shot where Laura stands amidst a cemetery filled with unmarked graves of unknown migrants, capturing a complex mix of guilt and helplessness, underlined by the ongoing nature of this crisis. We hoped to convey this sense of weight of what is unseen, and the lingering impact of what is left behind.”
With Borders, Shu Zhu not only exhibits his talent and skill as a master filmmaker, he reminds us of the power of film itself to take us beyond facts or entertainment and achieve connection. At its best, every art form has the power to unify different people under a common concept. Borders will cause everyone who sees it to at least consider the very real people underneath the news headlines. This story is heartbreaking and upsetting, but in the most impactful of ways it can produce positivity. Shu Zhu has directed a film that is gritty and upsetting, because life can be that way and only in facing the casualties of this situation can we begin to move towards a better solution.