Post 9/11 film: Out of Status on 1/16 @ Two Boots Pioneer

3rd i NY and Alwan for the Arts Collaborative Monthly Film & Video
Series presents the documentary feature:

Out of Status (Pia Sawhney, Sanjna Singh 2005. USA. 70 min. English)
Official Selection Rotterdam, IDFA, Edinburgh, Amnesty International,
and Asian American Film Festivals
*Director Pia Sawhney present for Q&A*

Two Boots Pioneer Theater
Tues, Jan 16th @ 7pm
155 East 3rd Street (at Avenue A)
Subway: F to 2nd Ave; 6 to Bleecker

Tickets: $10 Adults / $6.50 Pioneer Members
Followed by FREE PIZZA & BEER/SODA at the Den of Cin
Advance Tix: http://pioneertheater.tix.com/Event.asp?Event=82840

About the Film
Before 9/11, there was an implicit understanding between the INS and
immigrant communities that people who had applications pending to
legalize their status could reside in the country until an application
was approved. After 9/11, and for South Asians and Arabs, the rule
changed. The Muslim community, today, is alone among the vast
immigrant population to face such targeted enforcement. Out of Status
follows four families whose lives were permanently altered, when a
member was secretly detained or deported.

Carma, an American with two children, sees her husband, Akram deported
to Egypt. Their family has now been separated for two years. Two days
after 9/11, Salem, a Pakistani-American, is charged with stealing a
rental car and jailed in solitary confinement for 40 days. Hakim, an
Algerian, faces the possibility of separation from his wife (a legal
resident) and child for complying with a government program to
register Arabs. The Rahmans, who are staying in a shelter upstate,
wait to gain asylum in Canada. They, along with 15,000 other
Pakistanis, leave New York rather than face deportation. Through
focusing on individuals who are discriminated against by national
security measures, this film helps the audience experience the fear of
speaking out and see current policy through their eyes.

*Director Pia Sawhney present for Q&A*

About the Directors
Pia Sawhney
Pia has worked in documentary for four years, and most recently on a
production for Jennifer Fox, which will air on HBO next year. Pia's
short film Out of Status, with co-producer Sanjna Singh, played at the
Rotterdam, Edinburgh, and Amnesty film festivals among others. The
feature version, in post-production, is funded in part by grants, and
screened as a Work-in-Progress at IFP Market 2004. Pia and Sanjna are
finalists for the Roy. W. Dean grant, and were nominated by NAATA for
the ABC Talent Development Award. Pia has served as a panel judge for
the SAJA Scholarship Award, was accepted to IFP New York's Project
Involve workshop, and attended Bryn Mawr College. She has lived in the
US, India, and the Middle East. Pia is completing a graduate degree in
broadcast journalism part-time at New York University, and works as a
freelance producer.

Sanjna Singh
Born in Mumbai, India, Sanjna left at 17 for the U.S. She graduated
from Bryn Mawr College magna cum laude with honors in both Political
Science and French. Along with co-producer Pia Sawhney, she was
awarded grants from the New York State Council for the Arts and the
Experimental TV Center for Out of Status. The Queens Museum, Asia
Society, Pioneer Theatre, Egyptian Theater (LA) and Angelika Film
Center among others have screened their work. Sanjna was accepted into
IFP's Project Involve Documentary Unit in Spring 2004 and was awarded
the Eastman Kodak Final Pitch Award. Her personal essays have been
published in the New York Times, among other publications. She has
studied film and photography in New York and in Paris, and was a
panelist at Amnesty International USA's Annual General Meeting in
2004. She currently works at HBO Studios in New York.
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New York Arab & South Asian Film Festival
Feb 24 - March 4
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