Downloads: Press Release
“We Are Survivors,” Says Angy Rivera, Now a Young Woman, Who Urges Others to “Come Out” Of Immigration’s Shadows
A Co-production of ITVS; A Co-presentation with Latino Public Broadcasting
Angy Rivera had two crucial secrets in her life. The first was that she was an undocumented child living with her mother and siblings in New York City for 19 years. That secret was a constant source of fear: If her immigration status was discovered, she could be deported and her family shattered.
The second secret was more tragic: Rivera had been sexually abused by her stepfather from ages 4 to 8, a secret she eventually revealed and which, in the strange world of immigration law, helped her gain the visa she had always desired. Her poignant, inspiring odyssey is the subject of Don’t Tell Anyone (No Le Digas a Nadie), a new documentary premiering on the PBS series POV (Point of View) on Monday,
Sept. 21, 2015 at 10 p.m. (check local listings). American television’s longest-running independent documentary series, POV is the recipient of a 2013 MacArthur Foundation Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.
Director Mikaela Shwer met Rivera, now 24, while the young woman was still undocumented. After the two developed a friendship, Shwer began filming Rivera’s quest to help others living in immigration’s “shadows” and to gain a visa for herself. The result was Shwer’s first full-length documentary.
“Being undocumented isn’t something we can put in the back of our heads. When I wake up, it’s the first thing I think about,” Rivera says early in the film, adding that her secret has even haunted her dreams. This was the only life she had known. When she was 3, her mother, Maria, decided to flee the growing violence and unrest in their native Colombia, selling their possessions for a one-way ticket to New York. The United States was their promised land, but would remain so only if Rivera promised not to tell anyone that she was undocumented.
“Deportation is the biggest fear,” Rivera explains, and that fear shaped all aspects of her life. While her three younger siblings were born in the U.S. and had full citizenship, Rivera and her mother, who was also undocumented, faced the constant fear of discovery. Had they been sent back to Colombia, the family would have been forced to separate.
Yet Rivera eventually grew tired of being held captive by her immigration secret and started a column on the New York State Youth Leadership Council website called “Ask Angy,” the first undocumented-youth advice column in the country. She also started a YouTube channel offering similar advice, support and humor that currently boasts more than 37,000 views.
She knew all too well the pain of living “in the shadows.” Without a driver’s license or other official ID, for example, traveling outside of New York, especially by air, increased the chances of detection and was avoided. And when Rivera graduated from high school and discovered that getting financial aid for college was impossible without a Social Security number, her dreams for a better future were shaken. All of her hard work in high school, including extracurricular activities, “didn’t matter.” According to the American Immigration Council, only 5 to 10 percent of America’s approximately 65,000 undocumented high school grads go to college, primarily because of financial constraints.
Rivera took an even bolder step in 2010, when she joined a “coming out” demonstration across from immigration offices in New York City. Wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the word “Undocumented,” she stood before a small crowd and announced, “My name is Angy and I’m undocumented.” Her feeling of relief was immense, she says. In one sense the truth had set her free, though her openness about her immigration status was deeply unsettling to her mother.
She paid another price for her openness: hate mail. One detractor insisted that that U.S. “close the tortilla curtain.” And while supporters helped finance a semester for her in college, Rivera was forced to drop out of school several times to raise additional money.
Despite setbacks, she never stopped helping other undocumented youth. “Love yourself,” she advised. “Stay strong.” She also reminded detractors that people in her situation had not chosen their fate. “This is not my fault,” she says. “I was pushed to come here.”
Don’t Tell Anyone (No Le Digas a Nadie)reports (and U.S. Department of Homeland Security data confirms) that the U.S. deported more than 400,000 undocumented people in 2012, a record number. Rivera, however, eventually received a visa, though it was a bittersweet victory.
With the help of an immigration counselor, she was granted “U Non-Immigrant status (U visa),” which was created to protect immigrants who had suffered violent crimes–in her case, being molested early in life. The program is part of the Battered Immigrant Women Protection Act. While thankful, Rivera observes that “being raped makes you eligible. But not just living here.” She was even the subject of a front-page New York Times story about the program in March 2013.
She is now moving on with her life, enjoying the company of her mother and three siblings in Queens and celebrating the fact that she is no longer “just the undocumented girl. My life is so much more than that.” But her support of other undocumented young people has not wavered. “We will fight until the end. We are survivors.” In an especially poignant segment near film’s end, her tearful mother “comes out” as undocumented, casting aside the secret that protected yet confined her for so many years.
While Rivera’s story ends on an upbeat note, Shwer says there is still much work to be done. “Working with Angy and the many incredible undocumented young people in her community has been extremely inspiring,” Shwer comments, “but it’s also very frustrating to see the power of their movement result in so little change. Our hope is that these personal stories reach a wide audience and spark dialogue to amplify the voice of the movement.”
About the Filmmaker:
Mikaela Shwer, Director/Producer
Mikaela Shwer is an award-winning editor and filmmaker with a passion for bringing important stories to life. Her work was recognized early in her career when she won the Emerging Editor award with the short film 100 Mountains for the Adobe Real Ideas Studio student program at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. Since then, Shwer has worked on numerous projects for HBO, the Sundance Channel and PBS, including the Peabody Award-winning series Brick City and critically acclaimed independent films Call Me Kuchu and Like the Water. In 2012, Shwer joined Steeplechase Films, working with award-winning filmmaker Ric Burns to help bring vibrant documentaries to the screen.
Don’t Tell Anyone (No Le Digas a Nadie)is a co-production of Portret Films and ITVS in association with Latino Public Broadcasting and American Documentary | POV with major funding provided by the Corporation For Public Broadcasting.
Credits:
Director: Mikaela Shwer
Producers: Katie O’Rourke, Alexandra Nikolchev, Mikaela Shwer
Editor: Mikaela Shwer
Director of Photography: Arianna LaPenne
Composer: Benjamin Messelbeck
Running Time: 86:46
POV Series Credits:
Executive Producers: Chris White, Simon Kilmurry
Associate Producer: Nicole Tsien
Coordinating Producer: Nikki Heyman
About ITVS
Independent Television Service funds, presents and promotes award-winning documentaries and dramas on public television, innovative new media projects on the Web, and the Emmy® Award-winning weekly series Independent Lens on PBS. Mandated by Congress in 1988 and funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, ITVS has brought more than 1,000 independently produced programs to date to American audiences. For more information, visit itvs.org.
About POV
Produced by American Documentary, Inc., POV is public television’s premier showcase for nonfiction films. The series airs Mondays at 10 p.m. on PBS from June to September, with primetime specials during the year. Since 1988, POV has been the home for the world’s boldest contemporary filmmakers, celebrating intriguing personal stories that spark conversation and inspire action. Always an innovator, POV discovers fresh new voices and creates interactive experiences that shine a light on social issues and elevate the art of storytelling. With our documentary broadcasts, original online programming and dynamic community engagement campaigns, we are committed to supporting films that capture the imagination and present diverse perspectives.
POV films have won 32 Emmy® Awards, 18 George Foster Peabody Awards, 12 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, three Academy Awards®, the first-ever George Polk Documentary Film Award and the Prix Italia. The POV series has been honored with a Special News & Documentary Emmy Award for Excellence in Television Documentary Filmmaking, two IDA Awards for Best Continuing Series and the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) Award for Corporate Commitment to Diversity. More information is available at www.pbs.org/pov.
POV Community Engagement and Education (www.pbs.org/pov/engage)
POV’s Community Engagement and Education team works with educators, community organizations and PBS stations to present more than 650 free screenings every year. In addition, we distribute free discussion guides and standards-aligned lesson plans for each of our films. With our community partners, we inspire dialogue around the most important social issues of our time.
POV Digital (www.pbs.org/pov/)
Since 1994, POV Digital has driven new storytelling initiatives and interactive production for POV. The department created PBS’s first program website and its first web-based documentary (POV’s Borders) and has won major awards, including a Webby Award (and six nominations) and an Online News Association Award. POV Digital continues to explore the future of independent nonfiction media through its digital productions and the POV Hackathon lab, where media makers and technologists collaborate to reinvent storytelling forms. @povdocs on Twitter.
American Documentary, Inc. (www.amdoc.org/)
American Documentary, Inc. (AmDoc) is a multimedia company dedicated to creating, identifying and presenting contemporary stories that express opinions and perspectives rarely featured in mainstream media outlets. AmDoc is a catalyst for public culture, developing collaborative strategic engagement activities around socially relevant content on television, online and in community settings. These activities are designed to trigger action, from dialogue and feedback to educational opportunities and community participation.
Major funding for POV is provided by PBS, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding comes from Nancy Blachman and David desJardins, Bertha Foundation, The Fledgling Fund, Marguerite Casey Foundation, Ettinger Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee, and public television viewers. POV is presented by a consortium of public television stations, including KQED San Francisco, WGBH Boston and THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG.
Contacts:
POV Communications: 212-989-7425. Alternate contact: 206-790-8697.
Cathy Fisher, cfisher@pov.org; Brian Geldin bgeldin@pov.org
POV online pressroom: www.pbs.org/pov/pressroom
