“Crossing the Line”

San Diego City College alumni Brian Garcia’s new movie “Crossing the Line,” opened audience’s hearts with a sad but realistic view of illegal immigration in the United States.

Garcia’s movie tells the story of an immigrant family and their hardships in getting to Salinas, Calif. The film takes an all too real look at how the mother and her children have to evade arrest and trust crooked coyotes.

“Crossing the Line” was shown at the 18th Annual San Diego Latino Film Festival on, Wednesday, March 16, and was part of nine short films being played in the category of Frontera Filmmakers.

The movie hits on a subject that can be very controversial and at times spark very heated arguments. The movie makes no claims as to who is right or wrong, just that bad things are happening to good people on both sides of the border. “I want people to learn from the movie,” said Garcia in a telephone interview.

“Crossing the Line,” was a great look at people rather than statistics. The film being just under 10 minutes has the ability to get its point across and still not seemed rushed. Garcia and his team did a great job in using natural sounds to intensify the audience’s perception and to build drama. The cinematography of the movie also helped to put the audience in the scene with good use of close ups and obscure camera angles.

For it being Garcia’s second film, he did a great job with a very limited amount of time and money. The movie was made in less than 6 months and for around $700. Garcia attributes his success by working hard, “throwing your ego out the door,” and to learn to work with others, because you cannot make a movie without a crew.

For more information on how to see, “Crossing the line,” go to www.reckwave.com.