The Undocumented Lawyer: Capturing the Immigration Crisis through Film
From living in a tent in a Syrian refugee camp to elevating the stories within the immigration crisis, Zach Ingrasci '12 and Chris Temple '12 continue to find new ways to make films with impact. Their work thus far has been featured on HBO, Netflix, and The Atlantic, and has helped raise over $91 million dollars for poverty alleviation and refugee support efforts – changing over 275,000 lives.
Ingrasci is a director and co-founder of Optimist. Ingrasci’s journey to become a “disruptive storyteller” began while working for a small Mexican microfinance program. Ever since then he has continued to focus on the intersection of the creative arts, business, and sustainable development.
Temple is a humanitarian, filmmaker, and co-founder of Optimist. Every film and commercial he makes with Ingrasci has a purpose. Every piece of content created by Optimist is accompanied by a corresponding impact campaign that aims to create measurable and sustainable outcomes.
Since graduating from Claremont McKenna College in 2012, Ingrasci and Temple have spoken at the United Nations, TEDx Buenos Aires, and held over 4,000 they saw their short film The Undocumened Lawyer acquired by HBO and are looking forward to the release of their upcoming feature documentary, Five Years North later this year.
This event will include a showing of the film followed by Q & A with CMC alums, Zach Ingrasci and Chris Temple.