TAMIU faculty member receives Austin Film Society fund grant

Marcela Moran, assistant professor of communications at Texas A&M International University, recently won a Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund grant from the Austin Film Society and is hard at work on a new documentary film entitled, "Jornaleros."

Moran's project will take her to Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans and parts of South Texas, in search of jornaleros, or day laborers skilled in different trades looking for jobs on the streets, and of undocumented immigrants already working. The film will explore human rights violations against day laborers and the criminalization of undocumented immigrants in the United States.

"I feel very honored to have received this funding as I'm one of 24 out of 183 applicants chosen for the 2010 TFPF," Moran said, "It is highly competitive, and the committee who chooses winners is made up of talented filmmakers and past recipients."

The Austin Film Society awards grants once a year to emerging film and video artists in the State of Texas through its TFPF, the Society's website says. Awards are provided to artists whose work shows promise, skill and creativity. TFPF recipients have shown their films at renowned festivals such as Sundance, Cannes, Toronto, Tribecca, Slamdance and SXSW and have been nominated for Gotham Awards and won Independent Spirit Awards and Student Academy Awards.

Artists, educators, activists and religious groups have been pivotal in assisting director and producer in making connections with interview subjects, Moran said.

In addition to TAMIU alum Maritza Bautista, a former TAMIU student, Noe Cuellar, will assist in making the documentary as sound designer. Both were Moran's former video production students at TAMIU. Bautista received her bachelor's degree in psychology with a minor in studio art from TAMIU while Cuellar transferred from the University to The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, where he received his bachelor's degree. Bautista also received her master's degree from The School of the Art Institute in Chicago.