Cesar is a sophomore in college, an honors student who loves tennis and soccer. His dream is to become a neuroscientist.

Cesar’s future hinges on The Dream Act, controversial legislation that the U.S. Congress has been debating for 10 years.

The Dream Act would allow undocumented youth, who arrived in the United States before they were 16, to apply for citizenship. They must be enrolled in college or the military, have proof of five consecutive years of residency, and be of “good moral character.”

Cesar is one of over a million undocumented youth who live in the United States. Many have lived here longer than in their home countries. They’ve been integrated into American culture and wish to become citizens.

A movement in the immigrant communities is underway. As a form of protest, Cesar and may other undocumented youth have publicly revealed their status. They hope to shape future legislation that may give them a path to citizenship.

While revealing his status could jeopardize his family, Cesar feels like he has no other choice. Without a path to legal citizenship, Cesar’s life after college remains uncertain. As he says, “I’ll have a degree, but I won’t be able to use it.”

Nine Digits is a product of the MediaStorm Storytelling Workshop, where participants work alongside MediaStorm staff to create an intimate, character-driven documentary in just one week. Learn more about upcoming MediaStorm workshops and online training at mediastorm.com/train.

Gabriela Bulisova, Photography & Video

There have been several mentors and photographers who advised me to look into working with video. I considered their advice, tried working with video (once) and quickly (too quickly perhaps) abandoned it as a tool that seemed too foreign to my hands and too inflexible to my eyes. In addition, to compromise my full commitment to still photography seemed a heresy I could not ascribe to. That was my philosophy until I met Brian Storm.

I've been an ardent admirer of MediaStorm and have tremendous respect for their commitment, their dedication, their innovative vision and storytelling. I use projects produced by MediaStorm for my own information and inspiration as well as an educational tool in my photography classes. But it was not until I heard Brian lecture that I decided to revisit my still-photo philosophy. I was greatly inspired by his presentation and I immediately signed up for the advanced multimedia workshop. Brian promised to me that after the week-long experience, my images and my storytelling approaches would never be the same.

When asked what the workshop experience was like, I heard myself saying: "These were the seven days that shook my world." I stand by that statement and truly hope I can carry on the skills and the knowledge I obtained from the remarkable MediaStorm team. I spent many years of my life in classrooms, but having experienced the one-week of working with MediaStorm was perhaps the most poignant and meaningful learning experience I have ever gained. I cannot possibly summarize the value of what I learned in a few words or sentences, but suffice it to say that I would take the workshop again and again. I am deeply indebted to Brian, Jennifer, Tim, Lauren, and all at MediaStorm for their invaluable gift of teaching me how to see and work and think in moving images, how to work in a team, and how to produce a project from the very beginning to the very end. My heartfelt thank you!

Meredith Davenport, Photography & Video

Thank you all for an intense and incredible week of work. I was surrounded by extraordinarily talented and accomplished people all dedicated and extremely focused on telling this story in the best way we could. I slept very little and learned more than I could have imagined. I feel so fortunate to have been a part of the workshop and very proud of what we did together.

Dominik Baumann, Editor

It was a thrilling experience to co-operate in the production of such a complex story – with no more than just a couple of days at hand. For the most part, I sincerely enjoyed working towards such an incredibly short deadline!

Thanks to the wonderful team at MediaStorm and the wonderful teamwork you guys have developed, for me these long days and nights resulted in almost as much heartfelt joy as in the advancement of my technical expertise. Being a photographer, I am used to spend hours alone – it was just great to develop the project and the actual reportage together with you!

I feel extreme gratitude towards the producers at MediaStorm: They were always ready to offer insights into the production-process as well as loads of practical help and assistance. Their commitment to make us fit for visual storytelling was just overwhelming.

This workshop gave us all new perspectives and ideas. Now, I am looking forward very much to realize them in my daily work.

MediaStorm online training videos provide essential tools and techniques proven to enhance production and post-production. Created from years of live training experience, the online training videos provide useful tips no matter what your role.

MediaStorm's award-winning team of producers and cinematographers lead the online training videos with lessons learned from their experience producing films and training groups and organizations around the world.