ScottsdaleAZ.Gov

2009-2010 Diversity Series begins Oct. 27

  Oct. 7, 2009

  Contact:  Linda Walton, staff liaison, (480) 312-2038

  2009-2010 Diversity Series begins Oct. 27

The public is invited to attend a free series of programs celebrating and learning about diversity.  The City of Scottsdale’s Human Relations Commission and the Scottsdale Public Library System sponsor the “Cross Cultural Communications Series,” which this year features various films. 

Staff Liaison Linda Walton oversees the program and says the series supports the commission’s mission:  “Creating communication networks to promote diversity and move towards the elimination of discrimination and prejudice.” 

The Anti Defamation League, The Phoenix Black Chamber of Commerce, Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival and the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing co-sponsor the series.

To register or for more information, go to www.scottsdalelibrary.org, or call (480) 312-7323 (READ) or the Office of Diversity and Dialogue at (480) 312-7772. 

Programs are subject to change.

This season’s series features the following films.  Moderated discussions follow each showing.

The Woman from the Bubble
Tuesday, Oct. 27, noon – Civic Center Library, 3839 N. Drinkwater Blvd.
Thursday, Oct. 29, 6 p.m. Mustang Library, 10101 N. 90th St.

“I know you from TV,” says Khaled, a deaf Palestinian, to Lee Dan, an Israeli sign language interpreter, when he meets her at the Israeli army checkpoint.  Lee laughs.  She has a special ring to her laugh which sometimes even deaf people can pick up.  And fall in love with.  Hearing people, too, know her from the small bubble on the TV screen where she appears, translating programs into sign language. Outside the bubble, Lee goes on interpreting for deaf people in all kinds of situations: at school, in court, in therapy and even in the delivery room.  The film goes into the bubble and enters the world of deaf people. It also tells the story of people like Lee, who are between both worlds, between the majority and the minority, between silence and sound.
This film is sponsored, in part, by the Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival

What’s Cooking?
Thursday, Nov. 12, noon, Civic Center Library, 3839 N. Drinkwater Blvd.
Tuesday, Nov. 17, 6 p.m., Mustang Library, 10101 N. 90th St.

What happens when families come together for Thanksgiving?  Almost anything! Sit back, relax and enjoy this “generous and charming” tale of four very different families as they cook up some tasty holiday surprises: love, betrayal and even a few outrageous secrets!  Ultimately, discover the astonishing power love has to reconnect us all. The movie is Chadha's ode to Thanksgiving and multiculturalism, focusing on four Los Angeles families -- Mexican, African-American, Vietnamese, and Jewish.

Trouble the Water
Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010, noon, Mustang Library, 10101 N. 90th St.
Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010, 6 p.m. Civic Center Library, 3839 N. Drinkwater Blvd.

Discover the inside of New Orleans through the eyes of real people trapped by both Katrina and poverty . . . but who survive through strength of character and will power.  It is a gripping story and shows the power of a home camera and citizen journalism.  It’s not only about the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina but about the underlying issues that remained when the floodwaters receded – failing public schools, record high levels  of incarceration, poverty, structural racism and lack of government accountability.  This film won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.   

Crossing Arizona
Tuesday, March 2, 2010, 6 p.m., Civic Center Library, 3839 N. Drinkwater Blvd.
Thursday, March 4, 2010, noon, Mustang Library, 10101 N. 90th St.

With Americans on all sides of the immigration issue up in arms and Congress embroiled in a policy battle over how to move forward, this film tells the story of how we got to where we are today. “Crossing Arizona” examines the crisis through the eyes of those directly affected by it: frustrated ranchers, humanitarian groups, political activists, farmers and Minutemen, an armed citizen patrol group taking border security into their own hands.  It reveals the surprising political stances people take when immigration and border policy fails everyone.

A Dream in Doubt
Tuesday, April 6, 2010, noon, Civic Center Library, 3839 N. Drinkwater Blvd.
Thursday, April 8, 2010, 6 p.m., Mustang Library, 10101 N. 90th St.

Frank Roque gunned down Balbir Singh Sodhi at his Mesa, Ariz., gas station four days after the 9/11 attacks.  To Roque, Sodhi’s beard and turban—articles of his Sikh faith—symbolized the face of America’s new enemy.  Seeking retaliation for 9/11, Roque killed Sodhi and went on to shoot at a Lebanese American man, and fire multiple rounds of ammunition outside an Afghan American family’s home.  “A Dream in Doubt” follows Rana Singh, Sodhi’s brother, as he attempts to fight the hate threatening his family and community.  The Sodhis had fled ethnic violence in India to pursue their version of the American dream. But less than a year after Sodhi’s murder, more tragedies continued.