A quarter of the students at Bowie High School in El Paso cross the border from Juarez every day to go to school. Home + Away follows three of these kids who straddle two countries and face unique challenges reconciling their double lives. For Erik, Shyanne and Francisco, sports offers an opportunity to build a better life. Erik is a star soccer player, but he struggles to pass his English classes — and if he fails academically, he can’t play. Shyanne has found her place through wrestling, but she thinks maybe she has to enlist in the Army to secure a future. Ace pitcher Francisco helps Bowie’s baseball team compete for a championship, but it haunts him that his father in Mexico can’t cross the border to watch him play. At once a terrific sports documentary and a fresh look at cross-cultural issues, Matt Ogens’s timely film is an intimate and compassionate look at life on the border.

Director Matt Ogens