Today's complex literate environments require contemporary authors to focus on the ethical responsibilities of media creation. This study highlights 12th graders in California who produced a documentary on Latino immigration and chronicles the complex interactions between student‐generated media, critical literacy, and ethics. Findings highlight two interrelated ethical tensions related to the filmmaker–subject relationship: the intertwined issues related to reciprocity and relations of power and the personal and political representation of Latino immigration to the United States. An essential component of critical literacy is for students to develop meta‐awareness of the choices they make within media production: to reflect on one's choices and the potential impact of these choices on others. Educators should recognize the ethical responsibilities of media making such as students’ interpersonal relationships and potential sociopolitical issues of representation.