Documentary "Train to Nowhere" relives the harrowing last journey of 11 undocumented immigrants LatinaLista.net -- Before we had daily reports of indiscriminate murders of undocumented Central American immigrants committed by Mexican drug carteles, Americans weren't so accustomed to hearing about mass deaths of undocumented immigrants. The first such report that brought this issue "home" was in 2002 when 11 bodies were found at the bottom of a railroad grain hopper in Denison, Iowa. The 11 were men and women from Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador who were coming to the United States to find work. They came from deeply impoverished areas, as described by a FBI agent who worked on the case identifying the victims and who appears in a new documentary about it premiering next month on Iowa's public television. Train to Nowhere: Inside an Immigrant Death Investigation traces the story back from the gruesome discovery in that fateful railroad car to where the journey began. The story becomes quickly personal for viewers when the brother of a victim from Guatemala, who is a legal resident and a business owner, describes his anguish in working with investigators to find the killers of his youngest brother and the other ten victims. Yet, in a twist, the documentary also includes the perspectives of the immigration and federal investigators and some of the people who were charged in the crime that led to these senseless deaths. While certainly sympathetic to the victims, the film doesn't endorse nor condemn illegal immigration. What it does do is put a face to the illegal immigration issue and humanizes an event that continues to happen on a daily basis that impacts people on both sides of the border. The documentary's producers Paul Kakert & Colleen Bradford Krantz are releasing the film on DVD in October and are making it available for purchase. Realizing how such a tragedy can be a learning experience for some, the producers have also created curriculum guides for educators to teach students how illegal immigration isn't an issue that is going away as long as the United States offers the promise of a better life than the one that exists for too many south of the border.

Train to Nowhere film: IPTV debuts a journey of inquiry By Border Explorer, contributor on AllVoices.com The emotionally charged national controversy over immigration takes an uncharacteristically calm position in the new documentary film debuting on Iowa Public Television this week, entitled Train to Nowhere: Inside an Immigrant Death Investigation. The film investigates the horrific discovery that rocked Iowa and the nation in 2002 when authorities found eleven badly decomposed bodies sealed inside a freight car in rural Denison, Iowa. Who abandoned these Mexican and Central American undocumented immigrants in pursuit of a better life, leaving them to die a hellish death in a sweltering grain car? Train to Nowhere investigates that question, taking an in-depth look at the crime and at everyone it touched. Train to Nowhere's tone is consistently nonjudgmental. Each player in the investigation is interviewed, and they all get a fair hearing: from the families of the deceased, to a key immigration agent, from a man charged in the case, to an FBI investigator. Each shares a unique point of view. And, as the stories unfold, so do the complexities of the issue of illegal immigration. But ultimately the viewer is left to grapple with that wider context: the push that drives the influx of migrants and the challenging push back they try to surmount. No stone is left unturned in this crime investigation story. We trace the journey that brought the immigrants onboard the train and piece together what transpired next. Medical professionals reconstruct the ugly reality of death by dehydration and hyperthermia. The medical examiner recounts the process of identifying bodies, and we learn how they were returned. The fate of the perpetrators is revealed. The emotional aftermath of grief is palpable in the story of a brother whose frantic search encountered tragedy. The unlikely friendship he forges with the border patrol agent assigned to the case adds to the irony. Production collaborators Paul Kakert and Colleen Bradford Kranz draw no conclusions and preach no political positions. And because of that, the general public --as well as educators of all kinds-- could find Train to Nowhere a useful resource as the nation addresses immigration reform. The extremely reasonably priced DVD may be purchased at the film's website. It also provides a free study guide download. Nothing is as black and white in the immigration debate as it may seem, says the film. However, through Train to Nowhere's careful investigation and retelling of a tragic incident, it also shines a spotlight of clarity into some dark corners of our national immigration controversy. By introducing the players in this human drama, and by carefully helping us understand them, the film just might have the power to elicit critical thought and productive dialogue. An appreciative audience of 150 at an advance screening in Davenport, Iowa yesterday interacted with Kakert and Krantz after viewing the film. Their discussion with viewers who reflected a variety of opinions on immigration opened up a dialogue that was fruitful and positive, participants said. If it can accomplish that, then Train to Nowhere offers a journey of inquiry that is well worth climbing aboard. It airs on Iowa Public Television on Tuesday at 7 PM. It will appear next month at California's Paso Digital Film Festival.

'Train to Nowhere' recounts immigration-smuggling tragedy By BETSY SIMON Times Herald Staff Writer Thursday, September 30, 2010 DENISON ­­– Dozens of railcars have passed through Denison in the last eight years, but none have been etched on Colleen Bradford Krantz’s mind like the one that carried 11 dead Central American and Mexican illegal immigrants into town on Oct. 15, 2002. For eight years, while the event fell prey to the public’s short-term memory, Krantz, an Adel resident and former Des Moines Register journalist, could never seem forget the story of what she deemed “the train to nowhere.”    “Before I left the Des Moines Register five years ago, I was working for them in eastern Iowa and didn’t have much to do with the story when it broke, but it always seemed to stick with me for some reason,” she said. “When I decided to leave the paper and stay at home with my kids, I started writing a book proposal on the subject.” Not knowing where the book might go, Krantz partnered one year ago with film director Paul Kakert, president of the Davenport-based Storytellers International, to turn her search for answers into the newly completed documentary, “Train to Nowhere: Inside an Immigrant Death Investigation” — a story of a U.S Immigration and Naturalization Service officer’s hunt for those responsible for the 11 deaths. The public is invited to this weekend’s three free, advanced film screenings. A Saturday screening is scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Donna Reed Performing Arts Center in Denison, where Chad Elliot, a Coon Rapids-based musician who composed the film’s music, will also perform. There will also be two screenings on Sunday – one at 3 p.m. in the Iowa Public Television’s Maytag Auditorium in Johnston, where Elliot will perform again, and another at 2 p.m. in the Figge Art Museum, 225 W. Second St. in Davenport. Iowa Public Television will also air the film at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12 — three days before the eighth anniversary of the discovery at the Denison FSC/ADM plant. “It was Iowa Public Television’s idea to show it near the anniversary,” Krantz said. “They decided on that date three or four months ago, and told us to make that our target date for completion. They even talked about showing it on the actual anniversary, but I think there might have been scheduling conflicts.” Krantz decided to bring “Train to Nowhere” to the big screen when publishers first shied away from her nonfiction book proposal because of a previous lack of sales for books on immigration. That’s when she brought Kakert on board to direct the documentary, which started filming in Denison, Des Moines, Ankeny and Iowa City with a grant for a couple of thousand dollars from Humanities Iowa, which has covered part of the film’s $15,000 price tag thus far. Kakert said the workload has been divided mostly between himself and Krantz, but it’s been worth it. “The film is produced by Storyteller’s International, but the film actually found me,” he said. “When Colleen approached me about it, I loosely remembered the event and thought it was the kind of film Storytellers should make.” What’s intriguing, he said, is that the documentary is not the typical immigration story. “We went out of the way to make sure it’s neutral. No political or personal views were involved,” Kakert said. “It’s a very different story that looks at where these people came from, which provides a twist not usually found in a story like this.” Unlike Kakert, whose career is built on what he sees through a camera lens, “Train to Nowhere” is Krantz’s first crack at a career as an independent journalist and her first time in broadcast media, after 10 years of newspaper reporting. And if film production wasn’t enough, Krantz, 37, couldn’t let go of her hope to find a publisher for her book, which she managed to do about two years ago. Entitled “Train to Nowhere: Inside an Immigrant Death Investigation,” the book is scheduled for release this spring. Krantz, an Iowa State University journalism graduate, based her works on conversations with border guards and federal agents involved in the case, who helped piece together the victims’ path from Mexico, where they were loaded by smugglers into a grain hopper bound for the U.S. The smugglers lost track of the hopper, which crossed the U.S.-Mexican border undetected by authorities, and continued on to Oklahoma, where it was stored for four months before it made its way to Iowa with the victims still inside. It was later discovered that the victims, ranging in ages from 18 to 40, were unable to release the hatch inside the rail car, leading to their deaths by dehydration and hyperthermia. The victims were identified with help from DNA test and the FBI and returned to their home countries. Nearly a year after the remains were found, charges were brought against two of the four persons believed to have connections to the smuggling ring. Juan Fernando Licea-Cedillo, of Mexico, was sentenced to 292 months imprisonment. Former train conductor Arnulfo Flores, of Kingsville, Texas, was sentenced to 41 months behind bars for providing train schedules to the smugglers. Rogelio Hernandez Ramos, of Mexico, was found in his home country, but Krantz said, before he’s extradited, Mexico wants assurance Ramos won’t receive the death penalty. Only Guillermo Madrigal Ballesteros, of Mexico, remains a fugitive in the case, she said. Krantz did nab an interview with Flores, following his early release from prison. “He was a little reluctant to do the interview, but we went to Texas to talk to him, and I wasn’t even sure it would happen until we sat down with him,” she said. Krantz said Flores doesn’t blame himself for the 11 deaths, but she thinks his coming forward about it was his way of reaching out. “He says in the documentary that he doesn’t feel responsible for what happened because he didn’t load the victims in the railcar, but I think part of his willingness to be in the documentary was a way of giving something to the families,” she said. But the story doesn’t end there. An interview with a Mexican-American immigration agent explains the criminal investigation that ensued. But it’s interviews with the family of victim Byron Acevedo, 18, of Guatemala, that Krantz said humanizes this story of inhumane treatment. She said Acevedo’s brother, Eliseo, a New York resident and one-time undocumented worker, explains the heartbreak he still suffers because of his brother’s death. “Eliseo talks about the months he couldn’t find his brother, and he tears up when he talks about eventually having to bring his brother’s body home,” she said. “He had promised his mother that he would bring his little brother home to Guatemala, and he still struggles with the fact that he could only bring his body.” Immigration isn’t a cut-and-dry issue, as Krantz learned during the film’s production. She hopes viewers understand both sides of the debate by the time the credits roll. “When people watch films on something that is so politically hot, I think they tend to watch it to see which side the producers are on, and turn it off when it’s not on their side,” she said. “We wanted to tell the story in way that people on either side would not turn away, and I think we did that. “And maybe, if people watch the whole thing, it will open up their minds and allow them to learn something about why the other side feels the way it does about immigration issues. There is no simple answer to immigration.”