Progress by Pesach This Week: Mpls Jewish Film Festival

Weds, March 11
8:15PM
Sabes JCC

Welcome the Stranger (SHORT)
Director: Steven Date | USA, 2009 | 11 minutes | English and Spanish with English subtitles
On May 12, 2008, approximately 900 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) agents entered the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in the small town of Postville, Iowa and arrested nearly 400 workers. Instead of charging the undocumented workers with immigration violations, for the first time, many were charged with felonies and sentenced to 5 month prison terms plus deportation. On July 27, 2008 Jewish Community Action, along with the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs (Chicago) and St. Bridget Catholic Church (Postville), led a rally in Postville calling for immigrant and worker rights, in solidarity with those affected by the immigration raid.
Welcome the Stranger, a film currently in production by MinnPost videojournalist Steven Date and Jewish Community Action takes you to the rally in Postville to see and hear Rabbis, Christian clergy, workers and their families come together in support of worker and immigrant rights. Steven Date and Lauren Bastien from Jewish Community Action will present this work in progress.

Strangers Following Welcome the Stranger Screening
Directors: Erez Tadmor and Guy Nattiv | Israel, 2007 | 85 minutes | Arabic, English, French and Hebrew, with English subtitles
An accidental meeting sparks an improbable romance linking an Israeli kibbutznik and a Palestinian woman in this critically-acclaimed exploration of nationality and the heart. Eyal and Rana (superb improvisation by actors Liron Levo and Lubna Azabal) meet serendipitously on their way to the World Cup soccer finals in Berlin after their bags are mistakenly swapped. A quick magnetic glance on a subway soon becomes an unbreakable bond, even as war in their homeland tests loyalties. Innovatively filmed with handheld cameras and unscripted performances, Strangers presents a strikingly realistic treatment of a complex relationship in which politics and personalities collide. (Summary courtesy of Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, 2009)
Warning: Mature Sexual Content
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival

Welcome the Stranger (short) followed by Strangers
wednesday, march 11
8:15 pm, sabesjcc
For a full schedule, tickets, venue and sponsorship information, visit
www.mplsjff.org or call 952.381.3499.
Sabes Jewish Community Center
Jay and Rose Phillips Building
Barry Family Campus
4330 S. Cedar Lake Road
Minneapolis, MN 55416