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The acclaimed family detention documentary The Least of These will screen April 20 in Washington D.C., as part of the Washington D.C. International Film Festival. The Least of These played to sold-out audiences at its recent world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin Texas.
The Least of These takes a penetrating look at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center, a former medium-security prison that re-opened in 2006 as a prototype family detention center. The facility houses immigrant children and their parents from all over the world who are awaiting asylum hearings or deportation proceedings. As information about troubling conditions at the facility began to leak out, three activist attorneys (Vanita Gupta of the ACLU, Michelle Brané of the Women's Refugee Commission, and Barbara Hines of the University of Texas School of Law) sought to investigate and address the issues. In telling the story of their quest, the film explores the role and limits of legal and community activism in bringing about change. The film leads viewers to consider how core American rights and values – presumption of innocence, the protection of children, upholding the family structure as the basic unit of civil society, and America as a refuge of last resort – should apply to immigrants, particularly children.
Screening details are as follows:
Monday April 20 6:30 PM
Landmark's E Street Cinema
555 11th Street NW (entrance on E Street between 10th and 11th Street)
There will be a Q&A with the directors and Michelle Brané of the Women's Refugee Commission after the screening.
For more information about the film: www.theleastofthese-film.com
For more information about the festival: www.filmfestdc.org
For ticket information: http://www.filmfestdc.org/tickets.cfm
