ENTRE NOS

This evening we headed up to a very modern and techy screening room in the GSD&M building across from Whole Foods to see this film, sponsored by Austin Film Society and Cine Las Americas.  We were anxious to see this film which premiered at The Tribeca Film Festival and is based on a true NYC immigrant's experience.  Written, directed and starred in by Paola Mendoza.  This is her mother's story.  A mother of two arrives from Bogota Columbia to meet up with her husband who abandons her in two weeks and never returns.  This woman supports her family who becomes homeless by collecting cans and selling empanadas.  They sleep in parks and on stairwells.  The children love their mother who is industrious, loving, hard working and interested in  bettering their lives by always pushing forward.   As  a NYC social worker for 36 years I have seen so many women with hard lives.  This film  brought me right back to remembering the pain and anguish of it all.  The depressing world of abandonment, exclusion, poverty, fear and hunger.  Paola had me in tears.  Her story, her acting, her direction and the Q&A that followed was all so heart wrenching and simultaneously wonderful.  Thank-you Holly, Paola, AFS, and Cine Las Americas for this teary eyed evening.