Award-winning filmmaker will present at Wartburg
September 25, 2017
“The U-Turn,” the final installment in Luis Argueta’s trilogy documenting immigration issues, will have its Midwest premiere Monday, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m., in McCaskey Lyceum in the Saemann Student Center. Argueta, an award-winning filmmaker from Guatemala, and Bea Gallardo, the film’s producer, will be on hand during the screening.
Argueta also will be the featured symposium speaker Tuesday, Oct. 3. His talk, “Breaking the Silence in Times of Fear: Life-Changing Immigrant Stories and Community Solidarity” begins at 11:30 a.m. in McCaskey Lyceum.
In Argueta’s film, undocumented immigrants and underage workers share their stories of the abuses they endured at a Postville meatpacking plant and the community that stepped up to support them after a massive Immigration and Customs raid in 2008. The documentary also focuses on the U visa, which is an option for victims of crimes and their immediate family members who have suffered substantial abuse and are willing to assist law enforcement. More than 175 U visas were obtained for Postville workers and families following the raids.
The symposium is presented by the Harry and Polly Slife Professorship in Humanities and co-sponsored by Vogel Library, the Wartburg Scholars Program and the Franklin I. and Irene Saemann Chair in World Communities. The events are free and open to the public.
The symposium was created through a leadership gift commitment from alumni Steven and Jane Noah and Dale and Judy Goeke in support of an annual event that would bring an author, poet or other literary figure to campus to engage students, faculty, staff and the broader community in activities to stimulate critical thought. It celebrates the legacy of former Wartburg English professors Sam Michaelson (1966-92), K.D. Briner (1966-76) and Phillip Kildahl (1961-77 and 1980-82).