The School of Hope
Director
Amy Martinez
Producers
Chelsea Hernandez
Monica Wise
Type
Feature Length Documentary
Status
Post-Production
In Matamoros, Mexico, where cartel violence and shifting U.S. immigration policies shape everyday life, The School of Hope tells a coming-of-age story about three children - Genesis (10), Alex (12), and Ulises (12) - seeking stability and belonging in a one-room classroom inside a migrant shelter. While waiting nearly a year for asylum appointments, the children find moments of joy, friendships, and lessons not only in reading and math but also in understanding their emotions and coping with trauma. The School of Hope captures the small but profound ways education and community transform their lives, from the excitement of mastering a new word in English to the courage of dreaming beyond borders. Interwoven with the children’s stories are the daily struggles of the school’s American founders Felicia Rangel-Samponaro and Victor Cavazos, who cross the border from Brownsville, Texas each day navigating cartel-controlled streets and scarce resources to keep the school open. Through vérité scenes and candid moments, The School of Hope is a moving portrait of resilience that reveals the radical power of education to nurture hope even in the most precarious places.
Amy Martinez is an Emmy®-nominated Mexican American documentary filmmaker whose storytelling centers on themes of dignity, joy, and tenderness found in unexpected places, often exploring women’s interconnected care within their communities. With work featured on Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, PBS, and National Geographic, her production was selected for the 2020 Telluride Film Festival. Amy has produced acclaimed documentaries including FARMLAND (Netflix), directed by Academy Award winner James Moll, and A WHISPER TO A ROAR (Prime Video). Now based in Austin, Texas, Amy is pivoting her career toward independent directing/producing after years of experience in Chicago and Los Angeles. She is an active member of the Documentary Producers Alliance, Video Consortium, and Brown Girls Doc Mafia and a proud graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
At the heart of Chelsea Hernandez’s storytelling are themes of community, representation and social justice. Named as one of Texas Monthly’s “Texas filmmakers poised to usher in a new Golden Age of Texas cinema” and DOC NYC’s “40 Under 40” class of 2021, Chelsea has directed and produced award-winning feature and short documentaries for over 15 years and produced television docuseries for El Rey Network, Paramount+ and PBS. She is a National Emmy-nominated Director for her first feature documentary BUILDING THE AMERICAN DREAM (SXSW, PBS), Winner of the 2021 Silver Telly Award for Social Impact, an 8-time Lone Star Emmy Winning Director, Producer and Editor, an SFFilm Rainin Grant Recipient, Warner Media 150 Artist, Winner of the David Carr Award for Truth in Nonfiction Filmmaking, and a fellow of Firelight Media Doc Lab, Tribeca All Access, BAVC National Mediamaker, Gotham Week and NALIP Latino Media Market. As director and producer, Chelsea’s second feature documentary BREAKING THE NEWS, a co-production of ITVS is streaming now on Independent Lens/PBS. Chelsea is also a founding member of Tejanas in Film, a collective that aims to support and uplift Latina and Latinx filmmakers living and working in Texas.
Monica Wise is a freelance Colombian American documentary filmmaker and video journalist based in Mexico City. She has produced documentaries with The Guardian, NYT and the BBC, among other outlets. Her first short documentary LUPITA, about a Maya massacre survivor, premiered at the Ambulante festival in Mexico, Sheffield Doc/Fest and Doc NYC in 2020, receiving awards from several others. She was a cinematographer on Netflix’s TRIALS OF GABRIEL FERNÁNDEZ (2018), Iliana Sosa’s feature WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND (2022 SXSW award winner, NYT Critic Pick and Gotham Awards Nominee for Best Documentary feature), AFTER THE FLOOD (2022 Emmy Winner) and NIÑAS // SOMOS EL FUEGO (2022 Premio Gabo Winner).