CINEMA POLITICA PRESENTS: GRANITO DE ARENA & WALKING THE LINE

WHAT: Documentary Premier Screening of GRANITO & WALKING
WHEN: Monday, January 29 at 7:30pm
WHERE: Room H-110, Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve
COST: Free or by donation
INFO: http://www.cinemapolitica.org

This double bill features two great docs that tackle immigration, racism, militarism and patriotism with gusto! Each film from one side of the USA/Mexico border, and each one offers insight and perspective into cultural phenomena.

WALKING THE LINE

USA / 2005 / 57 min 30 sec

Walking the Line offers a harrowing view of the chaos, absurdity, and senseless deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border through private citizens who are taking the law into their own hands. Southern Arizona, a region celebrated for its history of lawlessness, has become the most highly trafficked area for immigrants in the world—and one of the most dangerous. A shift in border policy forces migrants to cross the unforgiving desert where thousands die; those who make it face volatile civilian militias. The film explores the front lines of what many fatigue-wearing, self-styled warriors dub a “border war.” A commander marshals his armed troops, cocks his rifle, and maps out maneuvers when suspected immigrants invade the property. A nighttime raid led by a cigar- chomping vigilante leads to the capture of startled migrant workers.

GRANITO DE ARENA (GRAINS OF SAND)

Mexico/USA / 2005 / 62 min

For over 20 years, global economic forces have been dismantling public education in Mexico, but always in the constant shadow of popular resistance…Granito de Arena is the story of that resistance – the story of hundreds of thousands of public schoolteachers whose grassroots, non-violent movement took Mexico by surprise, and who have endured brutal repression in their 25-year struggle for social and economic justice in Mexico’s public schools.