Latest Post

Medley of Immigration Films Screened at Netroots Nation

Posted July 24, 2010 by Ted Hesson

After decades of living in the US, a grandmother is detained by immigration authorities and dies in custody, with strong indications that she did not receive proper medical care.

In Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio tears an immigrant mother away from her young children over an unpaid traffic ticket.

And in Patchogue, an Ecuadorian immigrant—Marcelo Lucero—becomes the target of anti-immigrant hatred, losing his life at the hands of teenagers who are out “beaner hopping,” slang they used to describe random attacks against Latinos.

Each of these narratives surfaced in immigration-themed documentary films shown on July 23 at the 2010 Netroots Nation convention in Las Vegas.

I attended the screening, which featured excerpts from full-length documentaries alongside short educational spots. The session culminated with the trailer for the upcoming PBS documentary about the Marcelo Lucero killing, Not in Our Town III: The Patchogue Story.

Here are clips from the screening, with some info about the films from the filmmakers:


Not in Our Town III: The Patchogue Story
“People around the country have seen the escalating rhetoric and violence against immigrants,” says NIOT CEO and Executive Producer Patrice O’Neill. “This is just an extreme case. And what was important for us is that the tragedy awakened many good people in Patchogue—including the Mayor and other local leaders, who are trying to make their community safer.”

Speaking in Tongues
At a time when 31 states have passed “English Only” laws, four pioneering families put their children in public schools where, from the first day of kindergarten, their teachers speak mostly Chinese or Spanish.

Speaking in Tongues follows four diverse kids on a journey to become bilingual. This charming story will challenge you to rethink the skills that Americans need in the 21st century.

SPEAKING IN TONGUES TRAILER from PatchWorks Films on Vimeo.

Short spots presented by America’s Voice
This clip wasn’t created by America’s Voice (see the creators’ YouTube channel here), but the organization presented it at the screening, along with educational spots focusing on unlawful immigration raids and Lou Dobbs’ media bias. The clip below is from the first immigration sweep of 2009 by Arizona’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio—TH

“Restore Fairness”
“Restore Fairness” produced by Breakthrough in association with 26 leading organizations, calls for the U.S. government to bring back due process and fairness to the immigration system.

Watch a powerful video on our broken immigration system from Breakthrough on Vimeo.

Tags : america's voice, arpaio, breakthrough, documentary, film, marcelo lucero, niot, not in our town, speaking in tongues

Comments

More LI Features

Media Mentions