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PARK CITY, Utah (AP) -- Thirteen-year-old Nicco Quinones said he already had felt undocumented immigrant workers deserved more respect, but while making an award-winning film documentary he also learned what a contribution they have made to Park City.
His short documentary about illegal immigrant workers in Park City won the $5,000 grand prize in a national contest that drew more than 700 entries.
The Campaign Cam contest was sponsored by C-SPAN and invited middle school and high school students to submit documentaries on campaign issues.
Nicco, the son of John Quinones, an ABC News correspondent, said he picked the immigration issue in part because he has a Mexican American background himself.
"With just watching stuff around me and knowing that they (undocumented workers) deserve a lot more respect -- I've heard people's comments and heard them made fun of," Nicco said. "I just thought instead of getting back at those people, let's try to just educate them."
Nicco, with his mother, Nancy, behind the wheel, cruised around Park City, talking to migrant workers, Latino citizens and even the mayor.
"I was worried about him hanging out the window with a camera (for landscape shots)," his mother said. "I had to think. 'OK, I'm the mom, my child is hanging out the window, but I think this will be OK."'
He even visited the Sonora Desert near the Mexico-Arizona border, where many of the workers cross on foot to make it into the United States.
His documentary begins, "Behind all resort glamour there is another side to this city that tourists seldom see ... the face of the people who make Park City work. The underground work force that numbers in the thousands -- an invisible work force, because in the eyes of the law they are criminals ."
Nicco spent more than three months on the documentary, "An American Dream," part of which was broadcast on C-SPAN along with a brief phone interview with him last month.
Nicco hopes some day to be a producer and filmmaker, and currently is an intern for Park City Television.
Nicco was 10 when he got his first digital video camera for Christmas. Not long after that he taught himself to edit. He then started making small funny films and producing newscasts with his friends, his mother said.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
