Private Project

Immigrant Voices of America: Shirleen

Shirleen shares her experiences living in the US as a black woman and an immigrant. She’s studying to be a medical practitioner, but the fact that she is undocumented possesses a huge barrier advancing her career. She fights alongside her peers for more opportunities for immigrants like herself.

ABOUT SERIES:
Immigrant Voices of America is an eight-episode documentary-series sharing the immigrant experience in the United States of America. Each episode highlights a different immigrant group and the challenges they face with their immigration status as they strive to achieve a better life in the US.

  • Miguel Angel Duran
    Director
    The Valley in the Struggle, Unrest
  • Miguel Angel Duran
    Writer
  • Refugio Juarez
    Producer
  • Robert Frashure
    Producer
  • Csaba Mészáros
    Producer
  • Shirleen
    Key Cast
    "Subject"
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Web / New Media
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 37 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 2, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    0 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Miguel Angel Duran

Miguel Angel Duran is a film director, writer, and editor. For over fifteen years, he has created dozens of video projects ranging from short commercials to feature-length documentaries. Miguel has worked with Fortune 500 companies like Apple, NBC, Disney and Johnny Rockets. Since the age of fifteen, his work has been shown both domestically and internationally.

From profiling Latino artists like Sara Sandoval to documenting the Farmworker Movement led by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. Miguel has made it his mission to tell stories from the Latino perspective.

Miguel has also shared his knowledge of filmmaking with the public. He’s participated in education and filmmaking panels across the U.S., taught filmmaking workshops in Boston and documentary filmmaking courses at Cal State University Northridge.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

My passion for storytelling came very early in my life. When I was five years old my parents took me to go see La Bamba, a movie about the first Latino rocker Ritchie Valens, who was from my community of Pacoima. That film changed my life. I knew then, and there that my life would revolve around storytelling in all its forms.

I’ve done everything possible to shed a positive light on stories focusing on Latinos and people of color because we need to celebrate one another. We need to be able to present our stories in a variety of mediums to show the beauty and complexities of our communities. We need a positive representation of our people and the only way to make this happen is by creating the stories ourselves, strong allyship and access to platforms to display our stories.

Representation matters. I am a product of that saying. The more we can share our stories with the American public the closer we get to being accepted as part of the American family.