Those Next to Us

Germán López Rosales, from Mexico, recounts his experience during a human smuggling operation from the border city of Laredo, Texas, to San Antonio. Locked in a tractor-trailer, eight of the 39 immigrants died that day next to Germán from the extreme heat and lack of water. Two others died later in the hospital. Distant wide-angle shots of Texas suburbs and highways and the film’s slow editing rhythm help place Germán’s testimony at the center of the film. (Festival de Málaga. Cine en Español.)