THE UNAFRAID is a feature length documentary that follows the personal lives of three DACA students in Georgia, a state that has banned them from attending its top state universities and disqualifies them from receiving in-state tuition at any other public college. Shot in an observational style over a period of four years, this film takes an intimate look at the lives of Alejandro, Silvia and Aldo as they navigate activism, pursuing their right to education, their personal struggles and triumphs, and fighting for their families and communities.
THE UNAFRAID shows us what it means to grow up both American and undocumented in today’s United States.
In the event of screening of THE UNAFRAID at the New York’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival, we had a video interview with Anayansi Prado, co-director of the film.
Filmmakers:
Anayansi Prado Co-Director/Producer/Cinematographer
An award-winning documentary filmmaker and instructor, Anayansi Prado was born in Panama and moved to the United States as a teenager. She attended Boston University where she received a B.A. in Film. She directed and produced the award-winning documentaries Maid in America (2004), Children in No Man’s Land (2008) and Paraiso for Sale (2011) which were broadcast nationally on PBS. Anayansi is a Rockefeller Media Fellow and is a Creative Capital Artist and has received support for her work from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Ford Foundation, Tribeca Film Institute. Prado is a Film Expert for the American Film Showcase (2009-present) and works on a regular basis with the State Department’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs to bring documentary filmmaking training to aspiring filmmakers in developing countries. Anayansi lives in Los Angeles, California.
Heather Courtney Co-Director/Producer/Cinematographer
Heather Courtney is a Guggenheim fellow and an Emmy-winning filmmaker. Her film WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM, she won an Emmy, an Independent Spirit Award, and a SXSW Jury Award. The film received positive reviews from the New York Times and the Washington Post, and was broadcast nationally on the PBS program POV. It made several Top 10 films of 2011 lists, including Salon’s Best Non-fiction, and was supported by many grants and fellowships including from ITVS, the Sundance Documentary Fund, the United States Artists Fellowship, and POV/American Documentary. Heather was also a fellow at the Sundance Edit and Story Lab. She has directed and produced several other documentary films including award-winners LETTERS FROM THE OTHER SIDE and LOS TRABAJADORES/THE WORKERS, which both focused on immigration issues, and were broadcast nationally on PBS. She has been funded by ITVS, the Sundance Documentary Fund, the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, Latino Public Broadcasting, and the Austin Film Society, as well as a Fulbright Fellowship and an International Documentary Association award.
Her most recent film, The Unafraid, about DACA students fighting for their education and their families in Georgia, was co-directed and produced with Anayansi Prado. It premiered in April 2018 at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and won the Human Rights Award.