CNN Films has acquired the U.S. broadcast rights for Documented, the feature-length documentary by Jose Antonio Vargas, about his experiences as an undocumented immigrant, activist and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist: CNN Films Acquires Jose Antonio Vargas' 'Documented'
Documented will be broadcast nationally in the spring of 2014 as a CNN Films broadcast, following its international premiere this month at the 2013 International Documentary Film Festival and its theatrical distribution in the U.S. It screened last week as the closing night film of the San Diego Asian Film Festival.
Here's the trailer for Undocumented:
Vargas began working on the documentary shortly before "outing" himself as undocumented in a June 2011 New York Times Magazine essay, "My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant".
In 2011, Vargas revealed in a New York Times essay that he has been living in the U.S. illegally since he was brought from the Philippines as a child to live with his grandparents. He grew up in California where teachers and school administrators helped him gain college admission, a driver's license and employment. He later landed a job at The Washington Post where he was part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize.More here: CNN acquires Vargas' immigration film 'Documented'
Just before he revealed his immigration status, Vargas began filming. He said he wanted to capture everything he was about to go through. He also set out to tell stories of those brought to the country illegally as children who would benefit from a path to permanent residency under the stalled U.S. DREAM Act.
"It is imperative that we remind people what is actually at stake and that we humanize as much as possible a highly political, highly partisan issue," Vargas said. "A film to me has the potential to not only change policy but to change people's minds and hearts."
For more information and updates about Undocumented visit the Define American website.