All We Carry

All We Carry follows one family’s extraordinary journey as they flee persecution in Honduras and endure months in US detention. Upon release, they are sponsored by a synagogue in Seattle and move into a borrowed home, all while they await their asylum verdict. Over three years, the family navigates countless life-altering and every-day moments where memory, joy, and grief collide.

Project type: Nonfiction Feature
Project status: Distribution
Director: Cady Voge
Producer: Laura Pilloni, Laura Tatham
Editor: Rachel Clara Reed
Executive Producer: America Ferrera, Ryan Piers Williams, Michael Skolnik

Email: allwecarrydoc@gmail.com
Website: allwecarrydoc.com
Facebook: @AllWeCarryDoc
 
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Logline

All We Carry follows one family’s extraordinary journey as they flee persecution in Honduras and endure months in US detention. Upon release, they are sponsored by a synagogue in Seattle and move into a borrowed home, all while they await their asylum verdict. Over three years, the family navigates countless life-altering and every-day moments where memory, joy, and grief collide.

Synopsis

Spanning three years, All We Carry tells the intimate story of one family, while humanizing one of the most divisive issues of our time: immigration. The film follows Magdiel, Mirna, and their young son, Joshua—as they flee targeted violence from narcotraffickers in Honduras on foot and ride in cargo trains across Mexico, claim asylum at the US border, and endure detention before being released to live with extended family in Seattle, Washington.

After two months living in Seattle, the young family’s fortune suddenly changes when a West Seattle synagogue offers to sponsor them for the two years leading up to their final court date. As the family forms bonds in their new community they learn about the synagogue’s members’ own history of persecution and migration.

As the family waits for their final hearing, the trauma of the violence they have lived through comes to light as the viewer learns of the murders that led this young couple to immigrate. With the unique experience of having their immediate needs met through the support of the synagogue, Mirna and Magdiel are afforded the mental space to begin confronting their trauma as they learn to navigate a new culture in a new country.

After living in a state of limbo for two years, Magdiel and Mirna have their long-awaited court appearance and receive a decision on their case. As they share the news with the community who embraced them, we witness the powerful ending to their search for home.
 

Meet the Filmmakers

Cady Voge – Director
Cady Voge is a filmmaker and journalist specializing in character-driven, longform, and vérité storytelling. All We Carry is Cady’s feature directorial debut. Her other directorial credits include two short films, El Cristo Negro (2019) and Ballet In El Salvador is Alcira Alonso (2019). As a filmmaker, she has shot, produced, and directed short films for NBC, The New Humanitarian, and other media outlets across the Americas. She is currently in pre-production on her next feature documentary, which examines OB/GYN Meg Autry’s quest to launch a reproductive health clinic in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico serving patients in abortion restricted states from Texas to Florida. In 2022, Cady was selected as a WIF/Sundance Financing Intensive fellow as well as a Film Independent Fast Track fellow.

Laura Pilloni – Producer
Laura Pilloni is a filmmaker who works towards the representation of marginalized stories. She was the associate producer for the women and human rights documentary Home Truth, which premiered at the 2017 Human Rights Watch Film Festival and was broadcast on PBS the following year. She went on to associate produce Chavela (Berlinale, Hot Docs 2017) and was a co-producer on Lift (Tribeca 2022, Paramount Pictures). Keeping in line with these impactful films, she was most recently a producer on activist Elle Moxley’s short documentary Black Beauty (Blackstar, Outfest 2022) and is currently producing All We Carry, a feature documentary about a Honduran family seeking asylum in the U.S.

In 2022, she was a fellow for Film Independent’s Fast Track Film Finance Market, as well as for the WIF/Sundance Institute Financing Intensive. She is a proud member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia.

Laura Tatham – Producer
Laura Tatham is a creative producer committed to telling stories that highlight urgent social justice issues. She is currently producing the feature documentary All We Carry, with several new projects in development. Laura most recently completed the award-winning feature documentary Mama Bears, which premiered in competition at SXSW 2022 and has gone on to screen in 80+ film festivals worldwide. Mama Bears was a co-production of ITVS and had its broadcast debut on Independent Lens in 2023. She also produced the short documentary Black Beauty (Outfest ‘22), which follows activist Elle Moxley in the midst of 2020. In the past eight years she’s worked on numerous award-winning films—as associate producer on the feature documentaries Chavela (Berlinale ‘17) and Dispatches from Cleveland (CIFF ‘17) and as the production office manager for America, a series of silent, narrative shorts (Sundance ‘19).

In 2022 Laura was selected for DOC NYC’s “40 Under 40” list. She has been a fellow of the Film Independent Documentary Lab and the WIF/Sundance Institute Financing Intensive.

Rachel Clara Reed – Editor
Rachel Clara Reed is a queer mixed-race Chinese-American independent documentarian working on intimate stories about human resilience that challenge common narratives around identity, migration, and culture. Her short film, Somali Night Fever, published with The Guardian and shot in Somaliland, Kenya, and Sweden, tells the story of Somalia’s golden era of music through the stories of two former bandmates and best friends who lost touch during the country’s civil war. It was long-listed and received a special mention at the 2020 One World Media Awards, and has over one million views.

Rachel’s work has taken her to Sudan, Somalia, Somaliland, Uganda, Tanzania, and India, and from Kakuma Refugee Camp in northern Kenya to small Afro-Mexican towns in Veracruz. She contributes to outlets including The New York Times, The Guardian, Atlas Obscura, BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera English, News Deeply and Pacific Standard Magazine.

America Ferrera – Executive Producer
America Ferrera is an Emmy® -, Golden Globe®-, and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning actress, as well as a director, producer and activist. She currently stars in Greta Gerwig’s record breaking film, Barbie, and Craig Gillespie’s Dumb Money. Subsequently, she is set to make her feature directorial debut with I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, an adaptation of Erika Sánchez’s best-selling novel. Ferrera continues to serve as the face of Covergirl’s first vegan collection, “Fresh Clean Skincare”. A longtime activist, Ferrera co-founded Harness, a community of artists, influencers and grassroots leaders leveraging art and storytelling to power change and create a more equitable world. She also leads a digital lifestyle community and non-profit organization alongside Eva Longoria Bastón, called Poderistas, built to celebrate Latina culture and harness the power of community.

Ryan Piers Williams – Executive Producer
Ryan Piers Williams is a graduate of the film school at the University of Southern California, married with two young children, and lives in New York City, where he is a writer, filmmaker, artist, and activist. Williams has written and directed two feature films, The Dry Land and X/Y, and has completed several yet-to-be-produced scripts. Along with his wife, America Ferrera, and Wilmer Valederrama, he is a co-founder of a nonprofit called Harness, a community of influential artists, activists, and industry leaders who believe that storytelling shapes our world. As a community, Harness educates, inspires, and takes actions to create a more just world.

Michael Skolnik – Executive Producer
Michael Skolnik is a founding partner of The Soze Agency, a creative agency that works with companies, nonprofit organizations, and movements to create campaigns rooted in compassion, authenticity and equity. Michael’s profile in the The New York Times identified him as “the man you go to if you want to leverage the power of celebrity and the reach of digital media to soften the ground for social change.” Prior to that, he spent over a decade as a film director and producer. Michael serves on the Board of Directors for Rock The Vote, The Trayvon Martin Foundation, The Gathering For Justice, and The Young Partners Board of The Public Theater. Michael Skolnik is the proud father to Mateo Ali.

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Contact

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