9500 Liberty to Screen at Boston Indepenent Film Festival This Sunday

This Sunday at 2 pm the award-winning documentary 9500 Liberty will screen in the Boston Independent Film Festival in Somerville, MA. This film, of which NDN was an early supporter, tells the story of a northern Virgina community torn apart by its inability to manage its changing demographics amidst a climate of racial tension and fear. Such emotions played out in the County Board of Supervisors as anti-immigrant groups lobbied Board Members to pass a resolution that would grant municipal law enforcement officials the authority to ask anyone for whom they had "probable cause" for proof of citizenship. This resolution, eerily similar to the legislation currently being considered in Arizona, had disastrous economic and social ramifications on the County's residence, small businesses, schools and law enforcement.

If you're in the Boston area, I hope you'll make an effort to see this incredible film. Not only is it especially timely given what's going on in Arizona, but filmmakers Annabel Park and Eric Byler do a remarkable job of capturing the emotion on both sides of the issue while still driving home the film's greater point that, as John Grisham wrote, "when we, as a nation of immigrants, debate the immigration issue, we are defining our very identity as Americas."