Genre: Photo Journalism
Filmmaker: Karl W. Hoffman (Arivaca)
Run Time: Approx 20-min
(A 10-min question & answer session will follow the presentation)
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"As we approached the U.S.-Mexico border on the beach, my heart beat a tad bit faster and I began to think that this was the day that Customs and Border Patrol would begin to enforce the ban they have declared on public access to Friendship Park, Califorina." 
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About the film: Karl Hoffman visually documents what has been for generations a celebrated meeting-place of citizens from the US and Mexico at the international border. As this location is transformed into nothing more than an extension of an “enforcement zone”, walls are rising up to separate to people & cultures. If the Department of Homeland Security has their way, no-one will enter this enforcement zone from either the north or the south; making it, quite literally - a “no-man’s land.”
From the Director "Families, suddenly torn apart and permanently split by governments is not a new tactic for tyrannous leaders and arrogantly scared citizens fearing the watering down of their culture or to build the master race. But here in the United States of America at the beginning of the 21st century, what we are doing is shameless. Is this the country we are proud to turn over to our children after raising them to share?"
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A self-taught professional photographer, and aside form his internationally acclaimed fine art images, Karl has freelanced in photojournalism, graphic design, commercial photography, crime scene photography, aerial intelligence photography for the military and currently published in U.S. News and World Report. Karl has recently finished a two-year documentary recording everyday life on the American/Mexican border, the last American frontier as it vanishes before us, for which he has been nominated for one international award and one national award in photo-journalism. For more information on Karl W. Hoffman and Living on the Border, please explore the following web links: http://www.karlwhoffman.com/ and http://www.livingontheborder.com/
"Karl's photography and style of presentation convey the
'human element" here at the border, as few have documented.
The emotions derived from these images make one wonder
why as a society we have been unable or unwilling to provide
for even the most simple of human needs. And why as a nation
has our actions become counter to our creed?"
Bart Santello - Arivaca Independent Filmmakers Exhibition
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