A Cycle of Suffering was a short documentary project that I shot on the United States-Mexico border in the summer before college. The goal of this project was to document the perspective of asylum-seekers on both sides of the border via interviews and footage, while using archival footage and research to put those perspectives into the broader context of the historical and political conflict at the border.

This project was my first taste of how documentary filmmaking can open the eyes of not only the audience but the filmmaker to new perspectives and ideas. This was my first time shooting abroad, and strengthened my skills as an interviewer, researcher, and documentarian.