Excerpt from article by Reed Johnson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer:

“TO all the people who think that the illegal immigration debate is about electronic fences, NAFTA, Lou Dobbs and such, director Patricia Riggen and screenwriter Ligiah Villalobos offer a polite but emphatic rebuttal.

Immigration, say the women, is about survival. It’s about learning to be invisible. It’s about families. It’s about love.

That, Riggen says, was the insight she uncovered while leafing through Villalobos’ screenplay for “Under the Same Moon” (La Misma Luna), a Spanish-language drama about a Mexican mother who comes to work in Los Angeles, leaving behind her young son across the border.

The U.S.-Mexican production, which will open on more than 200 screens in Los Angeles and other cities on Wednesday, is the first Latino-centered movie that Fox Searchlight has distributed, reflecting the major studios’ interest in tapping into a rapidly growing market. It stars Kate del Castillo as the mother, Rosario; Adrian Alonso as her son, Carlitos; and an eclectic supporting cast that includes America Ferrera of “Ugly Betty” as a child smuggler and the norteño supergroup Los Tigres del Norte as themselves.”

Read the full article online.

PHOTO: America Ferrera, Adrián Alonso and Jesse Garcia star in “Under the Same Moon.”