The Global Search for Education: Tim Nackashi’s Film Focuses on a Family Reunion Either Side of the US-Mexico Border

Posted By C. M. Rubin on May 14, 2021

A brief stretch of border fence known as Friendship Park is a place where families are allowed to touch fingertips through the wall while agents look the other way. This month, audiences can screen Through The Wall, directed by Tim Nackashi, on the Planet Classroom Network YouTube Channel.

The story takes place during the first 18 months of the Trump Administration when anti-immigrant and anti-Mexican attitudes and policies were making headlines. Mother to her 2 year old son Julian, Abril is forced to raise her son alone in the United States. Julian’s father, Uriel, resides in Mexico after being stopped by police for a minor traffic incident and later deported. The family come together each Sunday at the US/Mexican border so they can be physically near to one another even though they are divided.

The Global Search for Education is pleased to welcome Through the Wall Director Tim Nackashi.

Tim, what inspired you to share this touching story?

I was inspired to share this story after reading a New York Times article about families meeting at the border — for face-to-face conversations, but also for family celebrations. The thought of families having picnics or getting together for Mother’s Day or a birthday at the border wall felt simultaneously heartbreaking but also beautiful.

With Julian’s innocence on the struggles his parents have experienced as immigrants, how different would you say his life has been compared to children with parents who are American residents?

At the time of filming, two-year-old Julian knew his father only through their Sunday visits at the border. So Julian had not been held by his father since he was just a baby. Obviously this is far from what most American families know. It perhaps compares to children with parents who are incarcerated. It is clear that government issues regarding immigration have made it difficult for many to acquire a residency in the U.S.

What systematic changes do you think should be made to help families like Abril’s?

I think one answer is to expand legal work visas. What if people like Abril could legally come here and get some kind of work-permit-residency, and still be able to go back to their country and see their family?

What do you hope audiences take away from this film and this family’s personal story?

My hope is for audiences to see the border crisis in a humanizing light. It’s not just an economic or even a moral concept — real families, real children are involved.