Indie Spotlight: ‘We The People’ Paints A Picture Of The Immigrant Experience In America

We receive a ton of tips every day from independent creators, unaffiliated with any major motion picture studios, television networks, new media studios, or other well-funded online video entities. The Indie Spotlight is where we’ll write about and shout out to a select few of them and bring you up to speed on the great (and sometimes not-so-great) attention-grabbing series you probably haven’t heard about until now. Read previous installments here.

Immigration is among the hottest topics in American politics, and a new web series aims to explore that issue at a more personal level. We The People, from creator Swati Ali, is a documentary project that explores the immigrant experience in the US through the eyes of 13 different transplants.

The immigrants featured in We The People are diverse not just in terms of their nationalities, but also with regard to their respective experiences in the US. Some have been here for virtually their entire lives, while others are recent arrivals. Some found support from their communities as they planned their moves, while others were met by consternation. It is the variety of these life stories that makes We The People so engaging. Thanks to Ali’s smart editing decisions, the show moves along at a snappy pace and its subjects’ accounts are deftly interwoven with one another.

“When I first came to the U.S., I didn’t have any expectations and I completely fell in love with the country,” India native Ali told The Skanner. “I wanted to talk to people from different countries and hear what they had to say, and also emphasize the fact that immigrants make life more interesting.”

Informed by her own experience, Ali has managed to take a subject that is often discussed in grim, serious tones and approach it in a more light-hearted manner. You can check out We The People on YouTube.

OTHER UNDER-THE-RADAR SERIES TO CHECK OUT

• Gal Pals. An acclaimed series about LGBTQ+ ladies is back for season two.
• Fierce Girls. Indigenous New Zealanders see themselves as superheroes.
• Interns. Underpaid workers endure a lackluster job in this comedy.

Got a series you’d like to see featured in the Indie Spotlight? Be sure to contact us here. For best coverage, please include a full episode in your e-mail.