Concerned Citizen

“Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.” -Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948

We live in a time and place where we claim to have freedom and believe that this is our right as human beings, notwithstanding the color of our skin, the language we speak, or our religion. In the United States, the ideal that we hold to is one of welcoming community and diversity, as manifest by our own great symbol, the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately, however, people are generally afraid of what those don't understand, particularly cultures or traditions who are different. Often this fear develops into racism and hatred. There are those in every community that understand the importance of change, the necessity to defend the basic human rights and be a source of help and inspiration to others. Carlos Fuentes describes the process we are living as a re-elaboration of our civilization, and one we ought to be open to: “different songs, different laws, different rhythms, long-deferred hopes, different shapes of beauty, ethnicity and diversity, a different sense of time…”
With the Concerned Citizen project, we wanted to explore a community that exists within a greater community, but may go unnoticed or misunderstood. There are many communities that could fit the bill, but because we both speak Spanish, the choice was a natural one. The Hispanic community has an enormous presence in the state of Utah, and while very well-known in U.S, is usually victim of stereotyping ignorance toward its presences and contribution. Sergio is only one of those citizens that are concerned about his community, and serves as a sort of bridge between the two worlds he interacts with. He is an example of a regular man that wants to make a difference in the people around him, often through helping other generations such as children or the elderly.
Although Sergio is bilingual, and may even speak English more often, we chose to film the entire documentary in Spanish as a representation of the community he speaks for. As a U.S. Citizen who has grown up here, but one who’s inherited a strong sense of his Mexican cultural roots, we felt he was qualified to discuss the issues of the hidden Mexican-American community. His thoughts on how coaching children brings people together and on how the technology today is connecting people fall in line with his experience at the Anti-Trump rally and the unification he desires for cultures. Especially in the process of editing the film, we had difficulty narrowing the clips down to only 3:00, as there were many that we wanted to use. We ultimately went with felt like a valuable contribution for representing Sergio as a concerned citizen.
Concerned Citizen: Sergio (alternate version)Concerned Citizen: Sergio