New York Film Academy Los Angeles Editing Instructor Heather Mathews is the Editor and Producer of the new documentary Forbidden: Undocumented and Queer in Rural America that will premiere at the OutFest LGBT Film Festival on July 12, 2016 in Los Angeles.
Forbidden focuses on Moises Serrano, an undocumented gay man whose parents fled Mexico for the United States when he was just a baby. Although he grew up in rural North Carolina, where he graduated from high school at the top of his class, it took him seven years find a college that was willing to grant him financial aid because of his undocumented status. In response, Moises decided to publicly reveal his immigration status. Moises has shared his story to dispel myths about the undocumented community and unite the immigration and LGBTQ movements, seeing them both as a struggle for human rights.
Stories like Serrano’s are not widely covered by mainstream media that tends to demonize immigrant communities and rarely addresses rural gay issues. His narrative illustrates a different vision for young LGBTQ immigrants. By placing a human face on complex issues, Forbidden illuminates social problems that viewers might not know exist and is a call to action to seek permanent and humanitarian solutions.
NYFA Instructor Heather Mathews is an editor and producer. She produced and edited the award-winning short film, Miss This At Your Peril, and edited Spoonful, which premiered at Sundance in 2012. Having worked in film since before graduating from Sarah Lawrence College in 1994, she moved to Los Angeles in 1998 to continue this passion. She has worked in both production and in the office for such notable filmmakers as David Fincher, Tony Scott, Gary Ross, Wong Kar-wai, John Frankenheimer, John Woo and Alejandro González Iñárritu.
Designed to hone your storytelling and technical skills, our variety of digital editing programs teach students the fundamentals of digital editing through hands-on experience. Learn more about our program offerings by visiting the Digital Editing Programs page.