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"I'm afraid. I hope to God they won't catch and deport me." Optimist Films has released a trailer for the documentary Five Years North, which originally premiered at last year's Full Frame Film Festival. It also played at last year's San Antonio Film Festival; the film opens first at the Film Forum cinema in NYC at the end of this month. Five Years North is the coming-of-age story of Luis, an undocumented Guatemalan boy who just arrived alone in New York City. He struggles to work, study, and evade Judy - the Cuban-American ICE officer patrolling his neighborhood. The directors say they "di...

Analysis By Jennifer Doherty | February 26, 2021, 8:36 PM EST For immigration attorney Lizbeth Mateo, her clients' cases are personal — the outcomes could affect her own removal proceedings someday. (Photo courtesy of Lizbeth Mateo/Optimist Films) Before immigration attorney Lizbeth Mateo accompanied her client, Edith Espinal, into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's office in Westerville, Ohio, on Feb. 18, she made a routine call to her assistant back in California. Like her client, Mateo lacks legal documents to reside in the U.S., and she knew that either of them could b...