Thursday night’s Screen&Discuss event at the Westwood Public Library in Westwood, MA brought out local high school students.

“The kids really liked it!” says teacher Pauline Chaloff. “A lot of them were surprised as to how much they liked it — “I thought it was going to be boring, but I actually learned a lot and liked it” was a quote I heard a few times today.”

Representatives from Westwood High School’s student chapter of Amnesty International collaborated with the library to host the event. We watched four films — Worlds Apart at Home, Pulse of a Dream, She’s an American Child and Seeking Settled Ground — before NIRV filmmaker Rafael DeLeon, his film subject Annabelle and CSFilm Director Michael Sheridan discussed immigrant issues with the audience.

Selected Comments:

• “I can’t relate directly to [the lives of] immigrants, [but these films] give me a little bit of insight.”
• After seeing these films, I plan to “pre-register to vote”.
• “I learned that…people are more open-minded than I thought.”
• These films inspire me to “start conversations with others.”
• “These films so effectively convey and express the humanity [of] the immigrant experience.”
• “People are all the same — hardworking, just trying to…make a life for themselves and their children.”
• Seeing “how some immigrants live paycheck to paycheck motivates me to hire them if I ever run my own business.”

Our Screen&Discuss events are making impact around the country and you can can organize a Screen&Discuss event in your community, too!

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Many thanks to Westwood High School’s student chapter of Amnesty International, Pauline Chaloff, Westwood Library and Molly Riportella for organizing and hosting this event.