Well-Founded Fear: Film Screening and Discussion

Evocative, captivating and utterly unforgettable, the critically acclaimed Sundance Film Festival hit WELL-FOUNDED FEAR (2000) candidly explores the proceedings behind the American political asylum system. Who is deemed worthy of political asylum in the United States? Who decides? And why? Watch trailer here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/wellfoundedfear/339220448?autoplay=1

This event is the seventh in an ongoing film and discussion series focusing on countries where asylum seekers in the US are coming from, $5 suggested donation to benefit The Solidarity Room Project (facebook.com/Solidarity-Room-Project-939216439761932).

WHAT: Well Founded Fear: Film Screening and Discussion
WHERE: 136 Lawrence St, Apt 2A, Brooklyn, NY (between Willoughby and Fulton)
WHEN: Thursday, Dec 5th 7pm door, 7:30pm film start

$5 donation at the door, beverages and snacks available for extra donation.

If you have any film suggestions for the series, or want to donate, let us know! SolidarityRoomProject@riseup.net

An unprecedented inside look at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), award-winning filmmakers Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini take their cameras behind locked doors, where bureaucrats decide the fates of thousands of asylum-seekers each year. To be granted asylum, applicants must demonstrate a “well-founded fear” that their lives would be endangered were they to be deported. The asylum-seekers are at once hopeful and heartbreaking, at times too slick and polished, and in other cases painfully timid. All have the same desire — freedom to stay in America. As asylum officers struggle to determine credibility, balancing sympathy with good sense and tough-mindedness, their hard-made decisions ultimately hold a mirror to the broader, quickly changing, and controversial role of the United States in the world at large.

Superbly crafted and heartrendingly sensitive, WELL-FOUNDED FEAR is “groundbreaking… if it’s real life-and-death drama you’re looking for, with entire futures hinging on a few words, this is the place to go.” (The Los Angeles Times)