Please join us for an on-line discussion of ten, short (approximately 10 minutes/each) documentaries called “New Immigrant and Refugee Visions.” According to films’ web site, “The stories produced provide a unique insider perspective on the integration challenges faced by immigrants and the contributions they make to our culture, economy and social fabric.” The films focus on the following topics:
- a young Rohingya man
- a Somali family
- a group of Haitians helping each other
- a Ugandan nursing assistant
- an Indian woman politician
- a Dominican mother and daughter
- an Ethiopian minister
- a Puerto Rican activist
- a Bhutanese Christian
- a Haitian choreographer
The on-line film discussion will take place using Webex on Monday, May 18, at 4:00 CST. If you are interested in taking part in this event, please e-mail Nancy your RSVP by the close of business Wednesday, May 13th. After Nancy receives your RSVP, she will send you a link to the movies, which you will watch on your own time at home prior to the virtual meeting. There is no charge to participants to watch the movies.
Past Event
Please join us for an on-line discussion of the 2015 climate-change documentary, “This Changes Everything.” which focuses on climate change, mainly in South Asia and Europe. Here’s a trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpuSt_ST4_U.
Each participant will watch the movie before we meet; it is widely available on a number of different streaming services. Then we will meet on-line for a discussion of the movie and of ways it might be incorporated into lesson plans.
If you would like to take part in this pilot “virtual movie club,” please e-mail Dr. Nancy Heingartner (outreach@iris.wisc.edu) by noon on Tuesday, April 21. Nancy will then send you an invitation to the meeting.
The discussion will take place a week from Tuesday, on April 28th, at 4:00 pm CST.
Here is part of a review from Common Sense Media (https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/this-changes-everything):
“Thoughtful, compelling, and beautifully put together, this film offers hope and a positive outlook for a world in which even a mention of climate change can elicit both despair and controversy. From the first words of the narration — when Klein talks about being frustrated, even bored, with constant staggering statistics and doomsday predictions about climate change — it’s clear that This Changes Everything wants to be different.
And it succeeds, powerfully. Carefully selecting seven instances in which resourceful, steadfast members of vulnerable communities set out to protect their world and livelihood from short-sighted, wrong-headed business interests, Klein and Lewis ask and answer their insightful question: “What if global warming is the best chance we’ll ever get to build a better world?” Fighting practices and “progress” that would encroach upon their beloved land — power plants, coal mines, a gold processing plant, conversion of tar sands into oil — the true stories in this movie leave us with people to remember, events to cheer about, and a message that inspires.”