Above: Scene from Identifying Features (Directed by: Fernanda Valadez)
ASHLAND INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL
May 22 - June 14, 2020
AIFF MIGRATIONS THURSDAYS
Above: A scene from Illegal (Directed by Nick Alexander)
The causes of displacement and migration – war and violence, famine, climate change, and sinking economies– indeed, the struggle to survive and live a better life, are growing more dire. Meanwhile, while many world leaders see refugees and immigrants as threats to their cultures and pawns in their political strategies. On Thursday nights, AIFF2020 will feature films that grapple with Latin American and African migration.
The festival is also partnering with the Schneider Museum of Art at Southern Oregon University to present a special companion exhibition August 6 - October 10, Migrating Bodies: For(saking) Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness featuring works by five artists who address the causes and effects of global migration.
Featured Migration-themed Films:
Q&A’s with filmmakers and guests follow every screening!
Screening Thursday, May 28 from 10am - 5pm, free to subscribers
In this creative non-fiction feature, history haunts the border town of Columbus, New Mexico, when riders on horseback cross the line to commemorate Pancho Villa’s 1916 raid. At the height of the Mexican Revolution, Pancho Villa raided Columbus, NM. Every year, the town’s commemoration of the raid opens old wounds. After decades of repetition, this story has come to shape the town’s identity.
Directed by Fernanda Valadez
Screening Thursday, May 28 from 5pm - 11pm
Grappling with the painful issue of migrants disappearing on their way to the U.S., writer/director Fernanda Valadez’s ambitious feature debut traverses a varied contemporary Mexican landscape, expanding as our emotional experience of a mother’s journey to find her migrant son swells to meet her own. Identifying Features won both the World Cinema Dramatic audience award and the jury’s screenplay prize at Sundance this year.
Directed by Bill Alexander
Screening Thursday, June 4 for 24 hours
When he was only eight, Guor Mading Maker (known as Guor Marial) ran from capture in war-torn Sudan to eventually seek safety in the US. In his new life, Marial began running again, participating in high school track and field and eventually becoming a sensation and qualifying for the 2012 Olympics. Runner depicts Marial’s difficult and triumphant journey from refugee to world-renowned athlete.
Directed by Nick Alexander
Screening Thursday, June 11 for 24 hours
We follow the miraculous journey of Salvadoran immigrant and Southern Oregon entrepeneur Laz Ayala’s life-or-death path to US citizenship, the challenges of present-day immigration, and his mission to humanize immigrants and reform immigration for the benefit of all.
