The Other Side
Just like every other weekend at Friendship Park, dozens of people have come to meet and greet one another on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border fence, an experience that many describe as being “bittersweet”. Access to physically touch the wall on the U.S. side is limited to a small area and families lean against the fence trying to catch a glimpse of their loved ones through the steel mesh which is so tightly woven they can barely touch fingertips. Couples quietly whisper in each other’s ears while Border Patrol agents walk back and forth in what can be compared to a prison yard on visiting day.
On the Mexican side of the wall, the atmosphere is more relaxed. Among those present is Jose Marquez, a 67 year old Mariachi singer, who has come to see his daughter Susanna. Although they live just a few miles apart, they have been separated by the U.S.-Mexico border for almost 15 years.The documentary explores these border interactions at a time of rising xenophobic political tensions. The park is the only binational meeting place along the 2,000-mile border. Despite the massive metal walls and militarised checkpoints, love has no borders.
View of Jose Marquez’s neighborhood in Tijuana, a city that has been a victim of Mexico's drug war and has been plagued by poverty, crime and violence.
Detail of Jose Marquez’s kitchen. Marquez lives alone, separated from his children and grandchildren, who are just across the border in San Diego.
Jose Marquez sits in his humble apartment in Tijuana, where he has been living for the past 15 years, since he was deported from the United States.
Jose Marquez writes music and plays several instruments. He worked as a musician in San Diego for almost 18 years before he was deported in 2002.
Families separated by immigration status gather at both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border fence at Friendship Park in Tijuana. The park is the only federally established binational meeting place along the 2,000-mile border dividing the United States and Mexico.
Jose Marquez hires musicians to sing a song to his daughter Susana, 33, and grandson Johnny, 14, who live in San Diego and meet with him every month at the border wall. The have not been together in 15 years since Marquez was deported.
Jose Marquez touches pinky fingers with his daughter Susanna at the border fence in Tijuana, Mexico.
Jose Marquez poses for a photograph that a visitor is taking of his family from across the border during a family visit.
Susanna and her son Johnny pose for a photograph on the U.S. side of the border wall with her father Jose Marquez in the background behind the fence.
The border wall, U.S. side.
Jose Marquez smokes a cigarette outside his apartment in Tijuana, Mexico.
Jose Marquez and his band “Los Criminales de Tijuana” (Tijuana Criminals) on a street in downtown Tijuana wait for customer to hire them to perform.
Detail of Jose Marquez’s home in Tijuana. The painting shows Marquez in 3 different life stages.
Jose Marquez stands outside his humble residence in Tijuana, Mexico.
View of the U.S.-Mexico border fence from Tijuana, Mexico. The massive metal wall that has been reinforced multiple times extends down to the beach stretching out some three hundred feet into the Pacific Ocean.