Co-Directors Chelsea Abbas and Erin Semine Kökdil bring a powerful combination of expertise and passion to this work. Chelsea, a cultural anthropologist with over a decade of experience in migration and border studies in Central America, first met Suly and Ronny, our collaborators and the main characters of the film, in 2019 while conducting research in Guatemala on a Fulbright grant. Her connection was immediate, and she has maintained a strong and enduring friendship since then.

In 2022, Chelsea returned to Guatemala and introduced fellow Fulbright-scholar and friend Erin Semine Kökdil to Suly and Ronny. Erin Semine Kökdil is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and educator who has worked in Guatemala for over 10 years. Recognizing the cinematic potential and profound impact of their story, the team was inspired to embark on a documentary project together. With Chelsea's deep anthropological insights, Erin's filmmaking expertise, and Ronny and Suly’s deep enthusiasm to share their personal story, LOVE IN THE TIME OF MIGRATION was born.

While many films have documented migration stories, there are few that follow people back to their home countries after leaving or being deported from the U.S. LOVE IN THE TIME OF MIGRATION examines this reality by drawing into focus issues such as transnationalism, borders, the American Dream, the criminalization of migrants, and deportation, but in a nuanced and complex way that is secondary to the love story between Ronny and Suly. With humanitarian crises unfolding at the border each day and migrants being criminalized or used as political fodder, the time is ripe to tell stories that depict the full and complex persons ensnared in the dysfunctional immigration system. Our film offers an incredibly human story of two people in love, trying their best to realize their dreams, despite all of the challenges stacked up against them.