In May 2017 Juana Luz Tobar Ortega, a quiet, unassuming grandmother from Guatemala, took refuge in a church in Greensboro, North Carolina, to avoid deportation. Nearly two years later, she’s still there. She knits, cooks, and prays in anxious limbo, awaiting either a favorable court ruling or seizure by federal agents. To ICE, she’s a lawbreaker; to the vicar of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, a law that would tear Ortega’s family apart is unjust, and he asks his congregants to “err on the side of love and mercy” to shelter her. Fifty miles from her home in Asheboro, she’s near enough to her husband, four children, and two grandchildren for regular visits, but she’s painfully removed from the daily rhythms of a house that feels empty without her, and her family members live in constant fear that they’ll lose her for good. Filmmakers Christine Delp and Pilar Timpane sensitively capture the stresses and struggles of a woman caught in a political tug-of-war.  MM

Filmmaker Q&A following screening