A Way to Be Together

When I began this project three years ago, I could not have imagined the challenges my community—composed of many longtime undocumented immigrants—would face.
 
For over 25 years, oaxaqueños—many of whom are Mixtec people from small Indigenous villages in Mexico—have made their way to Lambertville, New Jersey. Today, they represent nearly 20% of this small town’s population of 4,200. And yet, for many years, they remained largely unseen.
 
In 2022, the Lambertville Library hosted the first Oaxaca (Wah-Ha-Kah) Festival—a vibrant celebration that brought Hispanic and white neighbors together in a joyful exchange. When so many residents are from Oaxaca and few know it, the disconnection is stark—but so is the chance for transformation.

But what began as a feel-good portrait of cross-cultural celebration soon evolved into a more urgent story. In 2025, the festival was canceled amid rising fear during Trump’s anti-immigrant campaign. The pain in the community is palpable; they were beginning to come out of the shadows. This story has never felt more vital.

In 2021, Hurricane Ida devastated our town. My work studio flooded; I lost everything. As a native Spanish speaker, I began volunteering—translating at FEMA tents and supporting Spanish-speaking residents at the library, which had become a crisis hub. Sitting beside Oaxacan mothers who had lost their homes, I felt as though I had stepped into a parallel universe I had never truly seen before—one where daily life and struggles unfolded in ways invisible to most of the town.

Shortly after, the library commissioned me to develop an empowerment program for the women. That work sparked the first Oaxaca Festival that brought together 600 people. By 2023, the event had doubled in size. More than 100 white volunteers and Oaxacans worked side by side—building scenery, choreographing dances, and making 1,500 tamales. A new kind of presence—and pride—was born. The town began to awaken, and I started filming.

Even New Jersey Senator Cory Booker took notice, nominating our library for the National Medal for Museum and Library Service. We became one of just fifteen finalists nationwide for community outreach—a remarkable feat for a small-town library. The recognition underscores both the uniqueness of the festival and the broader challenge that immigrant communities face across the country: integrating organically into the fabric of their new homes.

A Way to Be Together is a meditation on the power of visibility. It asks: What becomes possible when we choose curiosity over judgment, and compassion over comfort? I hope this film inspires other communities to share their stories—and to find their own way to be together, creating change against all odds.