A documentary focusing on two children traveling through the Sonora Desert to cross the border between the United States and Mexico in order to reunite with their mothers in the Midwest will be screened in a free, public program Monday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m. in the City Library Auditorium. Following the screening — which is part of the SLC Film Center’s Spanish Language Film Series — Anayanis Prado, the film’s director, will be on hand to answer questions.

The 40-minute film — Children in No Man’s Land or Niños en la Tierra de Nadie — was premiered at the Guadalajara International Film Festival earlier this year. The documentary puts a human face on the political debate surrounding the more than 100,000 unaccompanied minors who enter the country each year. The film is in Spanish with English subtitles.

The debate about how to deal with unaccompanied minors has polarized in recent years between two camps: child welfare advocates arguing that the children, in effect, are refugees by being victims of abuse and economic circumstances, and immigration security advocates charging that unauthorized immigration is associated with increased community violence and illicit activities.

In 2006, for example, customs and border protection working under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security apprehended 101,952 juveniles. The majority of these children were from Mexico and were returned voluntarily without being detained. More than 7,700 were detained by the government in the same year.

Prado, who was born in Panama and now lives in Los Angeles, founded Impacto Films. She is well known for Maid in America, a 2005 documentary about Latina domestic workers in the LA area that aired nationally on public television.

The current film was funded by grants from the Pacific Pioneer Fund, Chicken and Eggs Pictures, and the Fledgling Fund.