Which Way Home
As the United States continues to build a wall between itself and Mexico, Which Way Home shows the personal side of immigration through the eyes of children who face harrowing dangers with enormous courage and resourcefulness as they endeavor to make it to the U.S. The film follows several unaccompanied child migrants as they journey through Mexico en route to the U.S. on a freight train they call "The Beast". Director/Producer Rebecca Cammisa ("Sister Helen") tracks the stories of children like Olga and Freddy, nine-year old Hondurans who are desperately trying to reach their families in Minnesota, and Jose, a ten-year-old El Salvadoran who has been abandoned by smugglers and ends up alone in a Mexican detention center, and focuses on Kevin, a canny, streetwise 14-year-old Honduran, whose mother hopes that he will reach New York City and send money back to his family. These are stories of hope and courage, disappointment and sorrow. They are the ones you never hear about - the invisible ones.
Halfon, Malkovich, and Smith joined Bristol Baughan, Jack Turner, and Bette Cerf Hill to executive produce Which Way Home. The film won the Special Jury Prize for Human Rights at the Traverse City Film Festival and was an official selection at the Tribeca Film Festival, HotDocs Canadian International Documentary Festival, and the Los Angeles Film Festival.
The documentary premiered on HBO on August 24, 2009. Which Way Home was nominated for Best Feature Documentary for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards.
"Which Way Home is so much more than buy-a-large-popcorn-and-sit-in-the-dark-for-an-hour-type fare. It's educational; it brings you to the front lines of a war we know very little about and turns the audience member into an expert. But, like with most documentaries, what becomes of that new chunk of brutal information is entirely up to you. My advice: Turn to the person next to you and tell them there's a great film they need to see. That's what I just did."
Read full review - Eric Davis, CINEMATICAL Tribeca Review