Border Nation

Scheduled in Block 2

Director Bio:

Jason Jaacks is a filmmaker and photographer focused on environmental and social issues. He has produced television for National Geographic, a web series for PBS Digital Studios, and video shorts for The New York Times. His film Silent River, about one young woman’s struggle to save the most polluted river in Mexico, won the Eric Moe Sustainability Award at the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital and was screened at COP21 in Paris. His short film In Search of Tzotz premiered at Mountainfilm and went on to be developed into a hour-long special for Nat Geo WILD, which Jason directed and photographed. He holds a Master of Journalism from UC Berkeley and is a National Geographic Explorer.

Director Statement:

For most Americans, the U.S.-Mexico border is a desert wasteland filled with drug traffickers, Border Patrol agents, and hordes of migrants. But for seventy-five miles, the border crosses the Tohono O’odham Nation - a Native American reservation whose people have called the Sonora Desert home since time immemorial. Since 9/11, the militarization of the border has transformed the O’odham land north of the border into an occupied police state. Ceremonial routes were closed, vehicle barriers were built, and hundreds of miles of new roads were carved across the landscape. Communities south of the border have been all but cut off and face constant threats from traffickers. Everything from purchasing groceries to practicing cultural traditions has been altered – an affront to O’odham sovereignty and way of life. While the media reports one border crisis after another, the Indigenous perspective has been all but ignored. This short film explores American identity and border security through the eyes of someone who lives it every day. As Ofelia says atop the ridge overlooking her village where the surveillance towers will be built: “these are being put here to protect the American way of life. But will destroy ours.”

I met Ofelia Rivas in 2008 when she was on a coast-to-coast walk in support of protecting sacred sites. I was in college and a brief interview in a gas station parking lot evolved into a decade-long multimedia journey to witness the changes happening on Tohono O’odham Nation. The U.S.-Mexico border has been in the news cycle for many years, but this story and my dedication to it extend beyond the headlines. In addition to a personal portrait of a life-long activist, Border Nation is a portrait of resistance and resilience in the face of overwhelming odds with a single goal in mind: to keep a culture vibrant and alive.