- Welcome to POV.
I'm Pete Schwaba,
host of PBS Wisconsin's Director's Cut.
Everyone has their struggles in life,
but sometimes we meet people who overcome so many obstacles,
it inspires us and makes us realize
how our own life challenges seem trivial.
The star of tonight's film Unseen might do just that.
Unseen follows lead character Pedro,
an aspiring social worker.
Pedro works hard toward his dream of being a social worker,
hoping it will bring stability to his family
and help bring mental health awareness to his community.
As an undocumented immigrant, however,
Pedro faces political challenges to obtain his degree
while he also struggles to make peace
and take care of his own mental health.
And if that wasn't enough to deal with,
Pedro is also blind.
This does not stop him from achieving his goals.
Given Pedro's challenging journey,
it's easy to see how a filmmaker would want to tell his story.
Unseen is directed by Set Hernandez.
Set identifies as a filmmaker and community organizer.
Set says they felt a connection with Pedro right away
when they met, as they are both undocumented immigrants
with a strong sense of community.
Hernandez says their goal as a filmmaker and artist
is to expand the portrayal of their community on screen.
Set's sense of community runs deep in the film industry too.
They helped found the
Undocumented Filmmakers Collective.
Set's mission is to help promote equality
for undocumented immigrants in the film industry.
Hernandez says they wanted Unseen to explore
the intersection of disability, immigration, and mental health.
Set's approach to telling Pedro's story,
given that Pedro is blind,
was to make the film as sight-challenged friendly
as possible.
They use shots that are blurry
to help the audience relate to Pedro
and force the audience to use their ears.
To achieve this,
Set would cover the lens of the camera with gaffer's tape
and then poke a hole in the tape to show just enough of an image
that made it challenging for viewers to see,
giving the audience the same obstacles in viewing the film
that a sight-challenged person would encounter.
Set Hernandez has aspirations
beyond the experimental documentary world.
Hernandez is also developing a half-hour comedy pilot
and a feature-length narrative screenplay.
But for tonight,
we'll just have to settle for their award-winning documentary.
Unseen starts now on PBS Wisconsin,
your home for independent film.