FILM: Wetback

"Wetback" Persistent, massive unemployment has left millions of Central Americans desperately impoverished, with little choice but to migrate to jobs in Canada and the U.S. It is estimated that 3,000 a day embark on the treacherous overland journey north, and fewer than 300 ever make it.

Wetback is a powerful record of the journey of five Nicaraguans, with no documents and little money, as they make their way north. The obstacles they face are tremendous and life threatening, from corrupt Mexican border police and vicious Mexican gangs, to dangerously overcrowded freight trains and fast-moving rivers. Those who make it into the U.S. face armed white supremacist vigilante groups who patrol the border to prevent illegal entry. Some make it, some don't; all suffer greatly.

Wetback is an exemplary, committed documentary that offers crucial human insights into the politics of poverty, the forces of repression and the will to survive. (90 min, 2004)

Audience Choice Award, 21st Chicago Latin Film Festival. Spectrum award, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2005. Best documentary: Cinequest film fest, San Jose 2005. Winner, Best Story: Festival Pamplona Punto de Vista.

Speakers (for some films), discussion, socializing, and drinks/snacks follow the screening. Part of a continuing series from World Centric. For a complete schedule and description of upcoming films, go to "http://www.worldcentric.org/filmseries/winter2006.htm">http://www.worldcentric.org/filmseries/winter2006.htm