Unauthorized : Director Meghna Damani on the H4 Visa

"These are people who are being brought in [to the United States]only in the most basic functions of women: housewives, baby makers and sex partners" -Shivali Shah, Immigration Advocate & Attorney, in "Hearts Suspended"-

In her debut film, director Meghna Damani ironically states that independence was the first thing she lost when she entered the land of the free. Her documentary, "Hearts Suspended" seems like a humble but admirable effort to decode the mystifying "H4" or "Dependant" visa, a sometimes paralyzing status acquired by thousands of women who come to the US alongside their H1 husbands. Unable to work till they are sponsored <--a process that employers are becoming increasingly reluctant to participate in--these dependents, often highly educated, remain jobless for vast stretches of time (5 years for some, according to Damani's doc.), undergoing identity crises while they attempt to make sense of the stifling game of immigration limbo. As a film that's bolstered by testimonials, interviews with immigration experts and partly autobiographical, "Hearts Suspended" gets some serious props for shedding light on a topic that's so conveniently overlooked, even when "immigration" seems to be such a hot-button issue. Can't wait to see the whole thing!

Check out the preview : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRrUYn8stfs&feature=related