THE LETTER explores what American news outlets have dubbed
the “Somali invasion” of Lewiston, Maine, an insulated,
predominately white former mill town struggling to maintain its
equilibrium in a rapidly changing economy. Filmmaker Ziad H.
Hamzeh probes the reactions of city officials and citizens to the
sudden influx of 1,100 former Somali refugees who, deciding that
Lewiston offers the best of all environments, choose to relocate
there en masse in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy. A firestorm of
controversy erupts when Lewiston Mayor Larry Raymond sends an open
letter to the Somali elders advising them to tell other Somalis
not to move into the city. THE LETTER documents the ensuing
crosscurrents of emotions and events, including a “hate” rally
convened by The World Church of the Creator and a counter “peace”
rally involving nearly 4,000 Lewiston residents supporting ethnic
and cultural diversity.
Saturday, January 15, 2005. 6PM
$5
The Execution of Wanda Jean
USA/Death penalty 88 min
A stark portrait of a woman on death row. This is a documentary about the
first black woman to be put to death in the United States in the modern
era. The film tells her story and follows her through her final months on
death row.
Saturday, January 15, 2005. 8PM
$5
CONDOR ? AXIS OF EVIL
Director: Rodrigo Vazquez
Documentary. 2003. France. 90 min. English, Spanish and French, subtitled.
Launched in 1975, Operation Condor united half a dozen Latin American
dictatorships with a singular cause: to stamp out the threat of leftist
political opposition by any means possible, often by torture and
assassination. In the name of “the struggle against terrorism,” Condor
conducted a secret war on South American dissidents for more than a decade
? a war its architects openly claim as a progenitor of the current “War on
Terrorism.” Through the stories of both victims and perpetrators, CONDOR ?
AXIS OF EVIL chillingly explores this brutal coalition, whose roster of
collaborators included then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and the CIA.
proceeded by:
ARCHIVO DE LA IDENTIDAD
Director: Simone Duarte
Documentary. 2004. Brazil/Argentina. 28 min. Spanish, subtitled.
In Argentina, adopted children have grown up with a haunting legacy of
state violence: the “disappearance” of their parents under circumstances
that are still being unearthed. In the course of their search for truth,
the new generation is building an archive of remembrance. ARCHIVO DE LA
IDENTIDAD presents the work of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo
Association and a group of students at the University of Buenos Aires, as
they bring to life the forgotten faces and memories of “Los Desaparecidos.”
They file not statistical facts or fingerprints, however, but memories of
the deceased: a favorite color, or a place frequented on leisurely
afternoons. This is a work that can help all of Argentina to search for its
identity.