To have a good story we always look for the simple, to surprise the audience, to be concrete and to look for credible stories full of emotion. The theory is well known to journalism experts but putting it into practice is much more difficult. From August to November 2024, this is precisely what 18 students from the Monterrey Institute of Technology/Puebla Campus (TEC Puebla) dedicated themselves to.
Under the direction of Professor Andrés Barradas Gurruchaga, and in collaboration with the Global Migration Media Academy (GMMA) and IOM in Mexico, the students developed three original documentaries which gave a deeper understanding of what migration truly entails.
The GMMA supported the Professor and his students for three months providing information about migration, providing basic content, ideas about the storytelling and feedback during the pitching. In addition to that, IOM visited Puebla and had direct exchanges with the students along with the content development processes.
The short film “Deep Roots” narrates the story of a football player, who ended up being the coach of the TEC Puebla American football team not only to teach the values of sports but, in his words, to generate culture. The story is full of positive messages, in favor of interculturalism ("We can choose where our homeland is"), inclusion, and about the challenges of a foreigner in search of new roots. Somehow it portrayed life of an American person who found his way in place in the world within a welcoming Mexican society.
The second documentary entitled "Patria" and tells the story of José Luis España Corona, a Mexican dazzled by the "American dream" but who did not find it and decided to return to Puebla, his home state. In this documentary there is a great deal of realism, of criticism of Mexicans’ tolerance and support for each other and possibly the intention to promote values of solidarity and respect among migrant communities.
The third, "New Roots", traces the story of a Nicaraguan mother, Ana Victoria, and her daughter Isabel, who migrated to Mexico during conflict in her country. Hunger and conflict triggered Ana to leave her three children behind and set out originally for the United States. However, she landed in Mexico and decided to make it her second homeland.
"I feel more Mexican than Nicaraguan," says Ana.
This phrase puts into perspective what one can gain, but also what is left behind in the search for a new home.
This is not the first time the students of TEC Puebla produced documentaries on migration. In 2023, the students also produced a documentary titled ‘
El-Sueno Mexicano’ meaning the Mexican dream.
As part of the three-month long learning experience, the students took the GMMA Foundation course, a self-training material that allowed the students to have a minimum specialization on how to report on people who migrate with full respect for their rights and dignity.
"I believe that as more people are linked to the efforts to support all migrants, we will be able to improve this social phenomenon. I think that migration does something very important, which is syncretism, the mixture of cultures. If Mexican culture is so wonderful, it is because of the syncretism," explained Alfonso Montiel Cienfuegos, a student of TEC de Monterrey.
The GMMA is funded by the Irish Aid and is a flagship IOM initiative which provides a range of accessible and free courses to support balanced and accurate coverage of migration stories.
