9th Annual Immigrant Heritage Week: April 17-24
Since 2004, the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and its partners have engaged in citywide outreach and education celebrating the histories and traditions of the city’s diverse immigrant communities. The 9th Annual Immigrant Heritage Week will focus on showcasing the immigrant experience through film.
Feature Films Include
The Apple Pushers
Directed by Mary Mazzio
Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 7:00pm
Museum of the Moving Image
THE APPLE PUSHERS follows five immigrant street vendors who are bringing fresh fruits and vegetables into New York City food deserts through the NYC Green Cart Initiative. The initiative was developed by the Department of Health in 2008 to address the food crisis and skyrocketing obesity rates in parts of the city. The film was written and directed by Mary Mazzio, narrated by Edward Norton, and underwritten by the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.
Welcome to Shelbyville
Directed by Kim Snyder
Wednesday, April 18, 2012 at 7:00pm
Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden, Building P
Change has come to rural Tennessee. Set against the backdrop of a shaky economy, Welcome to Shelbyville takes an intimate look at a southern town as its residents – whites and African Americans, Latinos and Somalis – grapple with their beliefs, their histories and their evolving ways of life. The documentary is directed and produced by Kim A. Snyder and executive produced by BeCause Foundation, in association with Active Voice.
Citizen U.S.A: A 50 State Road Trip
Directed by Alexandra Pelosi
Friday, April 20, 2012 at 4:00pm
HBO, 15th Floor
Citizen U.S.A: A 50 State Road Trip (July 4) follows director Alexandra Pelosi (HBO’s Emmy®-winning “Journeys with George”) as she travels across the U.S. to attend naturalization ceremonies in all 50 states and meets brand-new citizens to find out why they chose America as their home. Commemorating the Fourth of July, the documentary intersperses stories of newly naturalized citizens and interviews with notable first-generation Americans, including Madeleine Albright, Arianna Huffington, Henry Kissinger and Gene Simmons.
Light in the Darkness
Directed by Patrice O’Neill
Saturday, April 21, 2012 at 7:00pm
The Bronx Museum of the Arts, North Wing – 2nd Floor
Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness is a one-hour documentary about a town coming together to take action after anti-immigrant violence devastates the community. In 2008, a series of attacks against Latino residents of Patchogue, New York culminate with the murder of Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorian immigrant who had lived in the Long Island village for 13 years. Over a two-year period, the story follows Mayor Paul Pontieri, the victim’s brother Joselo Lucero, and Patchogue residents as they address the root causes of the violence, heal divisions, and take steps to ensure that everyone in their village will be safe and respected.
No Look Pass
Directed by Melissa Johnson
Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 6:50pm
BAM Rose Cinemas
This documentary follows Emily Tay, a young woman caught between her Buddhist parents—who risked everything to emigrate from Burma and expect their daughter to comply with an arranged marriage—and her own American dream. When Emily moves to Germany to play professional basketball and falls in love with a US servicewoman living under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, her story unfolds as she struggles to find the courage required to live the life she imagines.
For more info: http://www.nyc.gov