Film Group Jan 26, 2022

Series Fourteen –  Immigration

Zoom discussions of each film will take place on last Wednesdays at 4pm: Jan 26, Feb 23 and Mar 30

Hosted by John LeBlanc

To join the group, please email john.leblanc @ ubc.ca

Series Fourteen: Immigration continues to become a central reality of our time, increasing in scale and complexity and eliciting a wide range of responses from positive promotion (Canada desires and needs more immigrants) to condemnation (strong man countries erecting walls of various sorts).  Feature films have addressed issues of immigration since film began in the late 19th century, but our series will focus on more recent efforts, beginning with El Norte from 40 years ago when the general public was just beginning to gain a more in-depth awareness of such social issues.  Mediterranea provides a more contemporary (and more geographically removed) window into the situation facing immigrants.  Finally, Amreeka sees immigrant experience from a more positive perspective, adding balance to the seemingly insurmountable problems. 

Jan 26 – El Norte (1983) – directed by Gregory Nava focuses on indigenous (Mayan) refugees from the (American abetted) civil war in Guatemala, who make their way to California and become part of the, ongoing, broader Latin American immigration to the United States.  The film is divided into three parts: 1) events in Guatemala that lead the two protagonists (Enrique and Rosa) to flee the military dictatorship, 2) their journey from Guatemala to California and 3) their “new” life in Los Angeles.  The film was a trailblazer for being told from the immigrants’ point of view, rather than filtered through an American character, as in other 80s films focused on the region, such as Salvador (1986).  STREAMING AVAILABLE THROUGH THE UBC LIBRARY CATALOGUE.