The following is a brief project description by the group consisting of Leslie Rodriguez, Sandra Lojano, David Monges, Jibril Yahaya Luwaa and Andrew Robinson.
Our group is currently working to initiate an annual program in cooperation with the Jacob Burns Film Center that would involve a yearly short film created by the Hispanic community. We see it as a kind of "state of the union" style film in which the Hispanic community annually speaks directly to the Westchester population regarding current issues of interest and concern to the community. We hope that it will begin a yearly dialogue within the Westchester community that would serve to ease the transition of immigrants to life in Westchester. In addition, we hope the project will give Westchester a fresh perspective on the Hispanic community, by helping to acclimate each to the others’ views and concerns thereby integrating people from both communities without the fear of losing cultural identity. People could find ways to not just understand each other, but also to work together on these issues. In order to help understand how to best facilitate this yearly dialogue, group members Leslie Rodriguez and David Monges have agreed to participate in training sessions for open discussions geared towards the maintenance of healthy channels of communication through a program known as “Campus Conversations on Race.” These annual dialogues will then serve as the impetus for all participants to become instruments for positive social change.
The vehicle for this change will be, in turn, the aforementioned short documentary, screened at the Jacob Burns Film Center. What we will do is assist the Hispanic community in the creation of this short while we would be involved in the technical process. We will help the participants from the community to shoot, plan and edit the movie in which members of the community talk about current issues that affect them in Westchester and in the country in general. For example, participants could focus on how policies on health care and immigration reform have directly impacted their lives and those of their families here and abroad, in addition to other issues of interest. The goal in this is to allow the Hispanic community to address the most current issues as they are unfolding. One potential direction that this year’s short film may take could be to engage in the debate surrounding the possible passing of the Dream Act. Through the enactment of this Act, undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children and have been in the country for at least five years may obtain conditional residency for six years, the stipulation being that he/she complete at least two years of higher learning or military service. As a group, we would like to seriously consider the ramifications of the Dream Act on the Hispanic community and how the community in turn feels about the opportunity as seen through the eyes of both the older and younger generations of Hispanics here in Westchester.
Another focal point of the short documentary may be to explore how various organizations have helped with adjusting to life in the community, and plans for future involvement and contributions within the Westchester community. This would enable members of the Hispanic community to demonstrate that they are more than a "population demographic." An additional benefit is that participants would have an integral role in the creative process and the opportunity to be on both sides of the camera, not just as the subject of a film. Through this program we plan to help empower community members and give them a voice by which they can speak directly to the community, thereby becoming more visible and active participants. By asking questions of Westchester residents, community members are speaking, in essence, directly to the county as a whole. In contrast to a more traditional documentary in which people might pose questions to the Hispanic community, our program at the Jacob Burns Film Center would enable members of the Hispanic community to not just relate their story but to create their story, potentially effecting the course of it altogether.
We have spoken to Neighbor's Link, the Hispanic Resource Center and El Centro Hispano about their participation and these groups enthusiastically endorsed the idea; all three organizations are hoping to begin as soon as possible, with the cooperation of the Jacob Burns Film Center. Additionally, we are currently reaching out to other organizations that could benefit from this project, such as the Westchester Hispanic Coalition and Don Bosco. We believe the program has the potential to affect concrete and significant understanding among Westchester’s residents.