US immigration activist’s movie premiers in Manila

In this Feb. 13, 2013 file photo, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, immigration rights activist and self-declared undocumented immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on comprehensive immigration reform. Vargas has been detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents at a South Texas airport. Border Patrol spokesman Omar Zamora says Vargas was in custody Tuesday morning, July 15, 2014, but he had no other details. AP

MANILA, Philippines—An autobiographical documentary by one of America’s best known illegal immigrants has opened an independent film festival in his home country, the Philippines, to applause, laughter and tears.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and now immigration activist Jose Antonio Vargas’ mother received a certificate of recognition on his behalf at the 10th Cinemalaya film festival in Manila on Friday night.

“Documented” was written, directed and produced by Vargas, who has worked for The Huffington Post, San Francisco Chronicle and Philadelphia Daily News and was part of a Washington Post team that won a 2008 Pulitzer for its report on the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings.

The film tells of Vargas’ 1993 journey to America as a 12-year-old unaccompanied immigrant to join his grandparents, and his painful 21-year separation from his mother.

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