Inside America

Director: Barbara Eder
Writer: Barbara Eder
Cast: Raul Juarez, Aimeé Lizette Saldivar, Zuleyma Jaime, Luis De Los Santos, Carlos Benavides
Theatrical Release Date:
On The Web Film Website IMDB Entry

Synopsis: Drawing on her own personal experiences as an exchange student in a Texan-border town, Barbara Eder’s version of Americana is littered with teenage delinquents and broken dreams. Having spent six months in Brownsville’s Hanna High School when she was 17, this Austrian filmmaker returns years later to the scene of the action, determined to make sense of it on film.

The story follows six Brownsville students, blurring the line between Eder’s documentary research and the shaping hand of her narrative. With its border setting, Brownsville is both cultural melting pot and immigrant purgatory. Many of its teenage residents confuse American citizenship with a free pass to happiness, while those who already have it have no clue how to reap its benefits. Interestingly, most of the young people in the film are Hispanic, but they maintain a sharp divide between those born in the US and recent immigrants. Both sides find easy, teenage ways to put the other down, but Eder’s perspective is broad, capturing a wide spectrum of this Mexican American community with inquisitiveness and warmth.

Not everyone Eder knew in high school made it out of Brownsville alive, but the new generation of kids she encounters is still full of ambition and willing to pitch in on the filmmaking process. The production team set up camp in at Hanna High for five long months, observing, auditioning and eventually following the chosen teens as they recreate slivers of their everyday lives for the camera. When they’re not working on the film, it's homework and mischief as usual.

Among the young people of "Inside America," the pursuit of happiness is usually limited to stolen beer, high school vendettas and illegal substances. Bare fists are often the last stand against social injustice. With an uncensoring eye, Eder follows it all. The result is a film charged with uncensored authenticity and the sadness of frustrated youth. [Synopsis by Dimitri Eipides/Toronto International Film Festival]