Media Advisory: “Documented” Film Screening at the Museum of the Moving Image on Thursday, April 17 – Immigrant Heritage Week
Define American, New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Museum of the Moving Image to Host NYC Premiere of Jose Antonio Vargas’ “Documented” for Immigrant Heritage Week
Local leaders and community to celebrate the launch of New York City’s Immigrant Heritage Week with NYC premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning Journalist Jose Antonio Vargas’ Film, “Documented”
(Astoria, NY) – Define American, the New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Museum of the Moving Image will host local leaders and the local immigrant community for the NYC premiere of Jose Antonio Vargas’ film “Documented” to celebrate Immigrant Heritage Week on Thursday, April 17th, 2014 at 7:00pm at Museum of the Moving Image.
About “Documented”:Vargas began working on the documentary shortly before “outing” himself as undocumented in a groundbreaking June 2011 New York Times Magazine essay, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant.” Sent here from the Philippines at age 12 by his mother to live with his grandparents – naturalized citizens – in Mountain View, CA, Vargas found out he was undocumented when he was 16. “Documented” follows Jose as he travels around the country, speaking to people across America and sharing his personal experience in order to spark an honest dialogue about immigration and the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the US today. The film also explores his relationship with his mom – whom he hasn’t seen in person in over 20 years.CNN Films acquired the North American broadcast rights to “Documented” in November 2013, before its international premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam and following its world premiere at the AFI Docs festival in Washington, D.C. in June 2013.“Documented” is a project of Define American, and executive producers include Sean Parker, Matthew HIltzik, Liz Simons, Scott Budnick, Janet Yang and Kevin Iwashina. “Documented” is the inaugural film by Apo Anak Productions, created by Vargas in honor of his grandparents and mother. In Tagalog, Vargas’ native language, “apo” means grandchild and “anak” means “child.” For more information, please visit: documentedthefilm.com.
Following the film, writer and director Vargas, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs Nisha Agarwal and other panelists will join a panel discussion about the power of culture in shaping how people talk about immigration and immigration reform, and what that means for the NYC community.
WHO: Jose Antonio Vargas, Writer and Director, “Documented”, panelist
Nisha Agarwal, Commissioner, NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs panelist
Melissa Mark-Viverito, City Council Speaker, welcoming remarks
*(Additional panelists to be announced)
WHAT: NYC Premiere Screening and Panel Discussion of Jose Antonio Vargas’ Film, “Documented” for New York City’s Immigrant Heritage Week
WHERE: Museum of the Moving Image
36-01 35th Avenue
Astoria, New York
WHEN: Screening: 7:00 PM ET
Panel Discussion: 8:30 PM ET
NOTE: Tickets: $12 public (with discounts for students, seniors, and children) | Free for Museum members. Advance tickets will be available online at http://movingimage.us or by phone at (718) 777-6800.
AALDEF Press Release: AALDEF 2013 Justice in Action Awards
February 20, 2013 – Congressman John Lewis, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (Georgia), Jose Antonio Vargas of Define American, and Simone Wu of Choice Hotels International, Inc. were honored with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund’s (AALDEF) 2013 Justice in Action Awards on February 19.
Since 1987, AALDEF has presented the Justice in Action Awards to exceptional individuals for their outstanding achievements and efforts in advancing social justice. The awards were presented by Rep. Grace Meng, the first Asian American to represent New York in Congress, Tony Award-winning playwright of M. Butterfly David Henry Hwang, and Gordon Smith, CEO of Consumer and Community Banking, JPMorgan Chase.
Juju Chang, Emmy Award-winning correspondent for ABC News Nightline, and Sree Sreenivasan, Chief Digital Officer at Columbia University, both long time supporters of AALDEF, were the co-emcees for the banquet of over 700. They were joined at the end with a surprise appearance on stage from actor BD Wong, who urged the guests to show their support for AALDEF.
Among the guests at Pier Sixty in New York City were Congressman Jerrold Nadler of New York, U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Debra James, and past Justice in Action Award recipients Don Liu, Parkin Lee, Alice Young, and Sandra Leung.
AALDEF Board president Tommy Shi wished the audience a happy new year and shared the story that, seven days before the 2012 election, with AALDEF’s national poll monitoring and exit poll project at stake, Hurricane Sandy hit New York. AALDEF staff was stranded in outer boroughs and the office was without electricity. “We put out an emergency call for help,” said Shi. “AALDEF staff and volunteers lugged boxes of voting materials down 12 flights of stairs in the dark. We were lucky that Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP donated temporary space with computers and phones for our staff and volunteers. And Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP opened its conference rooms to us. In the end, the Asian American Exit Poll surveyed over 9,000 voters in 14 states on Election Day, the largest multilingual survey of its kind.”
Margaret Fung, AALDEF executive director, said that the three Justice in Action Award recipients had taken courageous stands on some of AALDEF’s current priority issues: securing real immigration reform, expanding diversity, and defending the Voting Rights Act before the U.S. Supreme Court.
David Henry Hwang introduced honoree Jose Antonio Vargas as having “one of the great immigrant stories of our time.” Vargas, an award-winning Filipino American journalist, publicly revealed himself to be an undocumented immigrant in a 2011 New York Times Magazine article. “Immigrant rights are human rights,” said Vargas, who acknowledged the work of AALDEF and civil rights organizations by joking that the reason he “was still here” was that he was “all lawyered up.”
Honoree Simone Wu, senior vice president, general counsel, corporate secretary, and chief compliance officer of Choice Hotels International, spoke about the need for diversity and inclusiveness. “So many Asian Americans do not get a chance to share in the model minority myth,” said Wu. “At Choice Hotels we value diversity in all our decisions and our results are better as a result of doing that.”
The evening came to a close with Rep. Grace Meng introducing civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis with a surprise video of the Congressman dancing “Gangnam-style” for the right to vote.
“The right to vote is precious, even sacred,” said Congressman Lewis, who, in 1965, led over 600 peaceful protesters in the march for voting rights from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. The marchers were attacked by Alabama state troopers in a brutal confrontation known as “Bloody Sunday,” and the senseless cruelty hastened passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. “I gave a little blood for the right to vote. But some of my friends gave their lives. We have made too much progress to stop now.”
Past Justice in Action Award recipients include Fred Korematsu, David Henry Hwang, Fareed Zakaria, BD Wong, Sandra Leung, Harold Koh, Mira Nair, Deval Patrick,George Takei, Salman Rushdie, Seymour Hersh, Charles Ogletree, Jr., Harry Belafonte, Margaret Cho, and Yoko Ono.
Contact:
Ujala Sehgal
212.966.5932 ex.217
[email protected]
Image Credit: Lia Chang for AALDEF
Image Credit: Corky Lee for AALDEF
Image Credit: Lia Chang for AALDEF
Image Credit: Corky Lee for AALDEF
The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), founded in 1974, is a national organization that protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans. By combining litigation, advocacy, education, and organizing, AALDEF works with Asian American communities across the country to secure human rights for all.
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