LONG GONE BY tells the tale of Ana Alvarez (Erica Muñoz), a single mother from Nicaragua living in Warsaw, Indiana with her teenage daughter, Izzy (Izzy Hau’ula). When a routine check-in leads to a deportation order, life as Ana knows it ends. The timing could not be worse as Izzy has just been accepted to Indiana University, a dream that becomes a nightmare when she discovers that because of her immigration status she will not qualify for the needed scholarships or federal aid. Faced with an impossible reality of a lifetime away from her daughter, Ana decides to risk everything in a last chance effort to leave Izzy’s tuition paid before her time runs out.
Set and shot in Warsaw, Indiana, LONG GONE BY is simple, subtle, deep, bold, timely, and most of all… beautiful! A bit of a slow-burn at first, but once its footing is in place, it’s a story tangled in a web of emotional complexity. Capturing the essence of our current immigration policies and impact, this small yet powerful film packs quite a gut punch. Subjective at all cause, centered around struggle and survival, the glue that binds the narrative as a solid story are desperate measures (smeared with minor plausibility issues), we see taken by a mother in distress for purposes of giving her daughter the life she never had.
LONG GONE BY could serve as a love letter to humanity. At a run of an hour-and-a-half, it’s a thought-provoking little film with strong performances that’ll live within your mind and soul. Right or wrong can be argued till we’re blue in the face, but there’s no denying with stories like this one, the common denominator boils down to one thing and one thing only… mankind being its own worst enemy!
Corriente Latina 
