Film Screening: Border Incident (USA, 1949)
February 11, 2026 - 6:00 pm
Segal Theatre
The Graduate Center, CUNY
Film screening followed by a Q&A Session
Set against the stark landscapes of the U.S.–Mexico border, Border Incident is a tense crime drama inspired by true events. The film follows a joint investigation between American and Mexican law enforcement agencies as they infiltrate a brutal agricultural labor smuggling ring operating on both sides of the border.
When migrant workers begin disappearing under suspicious circumstances, undercover agents are sent deep into the criminal network, posing as laborers in order to expose the masterminds behind the exploitation. As the operation unfolds, the agents confront not only ruthless gang leaders but also the dangers of betrayal, isolation, and the thin line between justice and survival.
Shot in a semi-documentary style typical of late-1940s film noir, Border Incident offers a gritty, unromanticized look at cross-border crime, institutional cooperation, and the human cost of greed. With its stark realism, moral urgency, and shadow-laden cinematography, the film stands as both a suspenseful thriller and a social commentary on labor abuse and border violence in postwar America.
Jerry W. Carlson (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is professor and a historian of narrative forms with special expertise in narrative theory, the history of the novel, global independent film, and the cinemas of the Americas. From 2013 to 2022 he served as Chair of the Department of Media & Communication Arts at The City College CUNY. In addition, at the CUNY Graduate Center he is a member of the doctoral faculties of French, Comparative Literature, and Film & Media Cultures and a Senior Fellow at the Bildner Center for Western Hemispheric Studies. He has lectured at Stanford, Columbia, Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV (Cuba), the University of Paris, and the University of Sao Paulo, among others. His current research is focused on how film and prose fiction from the Global South portray the histories and legacies of slavery, imperialism and colonialism. Moreover, he is an active producer, director, and writer with multiple Emmy Awards. As a Senior Producer for City University Television (CUNY-TV), he created the series City Cinematheque about film history, Canapé about French-American cultural relations, and Nueva York (in Spanish) about the Latino cultures of New York City. As an independent producer, his work includes the Showtime Networks production Dirt directed by Nancy Savoca and Looking for Palladin directed by Andrzej Krakowski. In 1998, he was inducted by France as a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes Academiques.
Curator & Moderator: Jerry W. Carlson, Senior Fellow, The Bildner Center for Western Hemispheric Studies & Professor, The City College & Graduate Center, CUNY
TO REGISTER send email to bildner@gc.cuny.edu
