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The Letter
May 8, 2017, 5:00 PM
Free
The Seventh Avenue Stand, a nationwide series of films presented by movie theaters and community centers across the U.S. as an act of cinematic solidarity against Islamophobia. Free admission!
Fatuma Hussein, Director of the Immigrant Resource Center of Maine, will introduce and discuss the film.
It’s 2003 in Maine, and some American news outlets are calling it “the Somali Invasion” of Lewiston, Maine. A firestorm of controversy erupts when Mayor Larry Raymond sends an open letter to the 1,100 newly-arrived Somali refugees. He informs them that the city’s resources are strained to the limit and asks them to tell other Somalis not to move to the city, a move interpreted as racism by some and a rallying cry by white supremacists. Sound familiar?
“The Letter is an especially dramatic work of polemical reportage on racism in America.”—Variety.
In English and in Somali with English subtitles (Unrated, 76 min.)