[Apr 10-11] Screenings of PBS documentary "Sentenced Home"

FREE BAY AREA COMMUNITY SCREENINGS OF PBS DOCUMENTARY

SENTENCED HOME

ON APRIL 10 AND 11
IN ANTICIPATION OF TELEVISION PREMIERE ON PBS,
TUESDAY, MAY 15

Film Examines the Human Toll of U.S. Deportation Policies

As the heated national debate over immigration continues, SENTENCED HOME is the first film that puts a human face on the devastation wrought by the U.S.'s deportation policies that were enacted in 1996. Chronicling three years in the lives of three Cambodian Americans, SENTENCED HOME offers viewers a rare glimpse into the drama of the deportation process as it happens; from the intimate final moments with their loved ones in the U.S. (the only country they have ever really known), to the squalid conditions of Cambodian detention facilities. SENTENCED HOME will be shown at two free screenings on April 10 and 11 in San Francisco and Oakland , in anticipation of its television premiere on the Emmy® Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens , on Tuesday, May 15 at 10:00 PM (check local listings).

Sponsored by the Independent Television Service's (ITVS) Community Cinema, The San Francisco screening is on April 10 at 6:00 PM. at the San Francisco Public Library, Koret Auditorium and the Oakland screening is on April 11 at 6:00 PM at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center , 388 9th Street, Suite 290 .

SENTENCED HOME is not only a testament to the lives of three Cambodian immigrants affected by the sweeping immigration laws enacted in 1996, but also speaks to the U.S.'s broken system of justice and the plight of many immigrants of various nationalities who have been deported since that time. These laws do not give immigrants a fair day in court, strip judges of their power to hear cases and make individual determinations, change the rules in the middle of the game, and do reflect proportionality or common sense. "Current reactionary laws against immigrants eviscerate due process and blindfold the Statue of Liberty. These restrictions are un-American and dangerous. They prevent our justice system from stopping government actions that go too far and that threaten all of our freedoms," said Angie Junck, attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center .

Pressroom for more information and/or downloadable images:
http://www.itvs.org/pressroom/ and www.immigrantjusticenetwork.org
Program companion website: http://www.pbs.org/sentencedhome
For more information on ITVS Community Cinema, visit http://www.itvs.org/outreach/cinema/