Many of the students who attend Bowie High School in El Paso, Texas, have an unusual commute to school: over the bridge and across the border that separates their school from their homes in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. For many of these students, sports represent one possible route to a better life: Erik, a soccer player, dreams of playing professionally; Shyanne, one of the school’s best wrestlers, sees the Army as a way to get to college but begins to rethink her course in the current political climate; and Francisco, a hard throwing pitcher and third baseman whose father isn’t allowed into the United States, plays each game with that absence in the back of his mind.

Matt Ogens’ observational documentary Home + Away follows each of these students as they navigate academics and athletic competition, while also contending with language barriers, a school in need of greater funding, and familial strife, during the their final years at Bowie.

—Jason Gutierrez

Directed by

Matt Ogens