AIFF Featured Films - 9500 LIBERTY & Lt. Watada

9500 LIBERTY
Dir. Eric Byler & Annabel Park
USA | 80min

Sat 7.17 | 3:30p | QDLIBE
Quad Cinema

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How do we know if someone is undocumented? Do we judge based on the way they speak? Or the way they look? Should we make assumptions based on where the country they have immigrated from? In Prince William County, Virginia, these very questions were the center of a heated debate on immigration and racial profiling when a law passed, allowing police offers to question anybody if there was “probable cause” to suspect them as an illegal immigrant. 9500 Liberty provides a front row seat to the battlegrounds of immigration rights. The film takes to Virginia’s local government chamber and its streets in order to explore the myriad opinions included in this hot topic.

Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjHUb9PqysI

Lt. Watada

Dir. Freida Lee Mock
USA | 63min

Sat 7.17 | 9:00p | QDLTWA
Quad Cinema

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In 2006, Lt. Ehren Watada risks a successful career as a military officer when he refuses his orders to deploy to Iraq. Watada takes his defiance a step further when he becomes the first commissioned military officer to speak publicly on his refusal for deployment and to challenge the Presidential war policy in Iraq. Though Watada must face court martial, the possibility of up to eight years in prison, and the wrath of the public, he continues to defend his belief that the war in Iraq is in fact illegal and a violation of his oath. This riveting and suspenseful documentary follows the lonely, courageous, and ultimately redemptive journey of one man who tries in the midst of daunting opposition to do the right thing.

Preceded by Unrest dir. Christina Rubenstein, part of Oh Family, Where Art Thou?