“Ways of Being Home” Film Screening + Director’s Talk

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/326813549249354

The WE CAN! Collective, Department of Public Transformation and Pioneer PBS present a screening of the film “Ways of Being Home: Between Northfield and Maltrata,” an intimate cinematic portrait of two small towns—one in Mexico and one in Minnesota – providing an evocative audiovisual meditation on the experience of Mexican immigrants living and working in rural America.

Join us in person at the Pioneer PBS Studio, or stream the event online, on Thursday, November 11th at 7pm for a screening of the film, followed by a discussion with the Director, Cecilia Cornejo Sotelo, moderated by Esmeralda Ziemer.

This event is free and open to the public, but registration is requested. Light snacks will be provided and masks will be required for in-person attendance. Please register for both the in person and online events at tinyurl.com/waysofbeinghome.

About the Film:
Vivid cinematography, richly layered soundscapes, short animated sequences, and a constellation of testimonies introduce audiences to Maltrata, an agricultural town nestled in the mountains of Veracruz, Mexico, and to Northfield, a college town in southern Minnesota where many Maltratans have immigrated and settled. By means of a nonlinear narrative and a camera that thoughtfully yet viscerally meanders between everyday scenes in both towns, Chilean-American director Cecilia Cornejo Sotelo, shows the complexities of, and contrasts between, these places.

Filmed amidst increasing violence and political unrest in Mexico and the rising anti-immigrant sentiment that took hold during and after the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the voices of fiercely determined and hard-working women coalesce to offer a nuanced portrait of a transnational community. Ultimately, the film is a testament to the resiliency and ingenuity of uprooted people as they craft a life and a home fostered by ritual, relationship, and community rather than solely by geography.