Rochester, NY
3:22 PM
I went to a movie preview of a documentary last night in Rochester, at the independent theater, The Little. The film is, American Harvest, directed by Angelo Mancuso.
The story: “Anti-immigration sentiment sweeps across America. A journey from Florida to New York, including a trip to the Mexican border, reveals the lives and issues of legal and illegal migrants and farmers working toward a better life. Is the immigration system in America flawed? Immigrants are dying to feed America. (This film was shot while traveling over 15,000 miles in the U.S. and Mexico from May to September 2006.)”
I had never been to anything like this before. The goal was to have a neutral audience see the almost completed movie and get feedback on what they thought.
Armed with large coffees, my friend Sean and I sat just behind a guy who turned out to be one of the main characters in the movie. Mancuso was 45 degrees to my left, two rows up. It was powerful to feel the energy of his family and friends as he was introduced and asked to speak about the film. He thanked a lot of people and then the lights dimmed.
I will not review the film here and now. That’ll be for you to do when it comes out. I did give my feedback on the survey form and it was like I want my book feedback to be: honest. The film educated me and changed some of my views on immigration. I will say that they way I looked at my salad during lunch today was much different.
It will be interesting to see how the movie process plays out for him. Maybe what I feel for him is how people look at me and my book process