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Exile Nation: The Plastic People


  • Charles Shaw, Director
  • DJ Turner, Producer

About the Project

Shot under extremely dangerous conditions using concealed cameras, The Plastic People captures the humanity in the millions of Mexican American deportees as they struggle to survive a Cartel war, forced to live in cardboard shacks and sewer pipes, creating an ever expanding underworld of exiles.

Narrated by photographer Chris Bava, The Plastic People captures the humanity in the millions of (non)Americans who spent most of their lives in the U.S., only to find themselves deported to Tijuana.

Filmed in Tijuana, this film follows the lives of three men who have found themselves stuck in an impossible situation as drug addicts, criminals and deportees, and who they become under these extraordinary conditions; how they find meaning, purpose and ultimately, redemption.