Absent

This short film is about an honors student who is taken out of school for the day because his family can't pay their rent and he's trying to hire himself out for undocumented day labor. During the course of this kid's day, you see his fellow students at school talking about the situation with illegal aliens in America today.

I am a school teacher in Florida--a state known for its high Hispanic population, so this short film hit home. By far the largest minority in my school is Hispanic and I have known my high schoolers to be taken out of school or arrive late due to their needing to work for the family business or take care of kids while their parents to manual labor. This film reminded me of several of these kids and how tough it is for their families to make ends meet. In addition, the very end of the film really made me think--and practically made me cry. In fact, the ending really made the film, as the student discussion was only okay--but the chance meeting really hit home.

Well made and interesting--I hope to see more from these film makers.