Tuesday evening, Hamlin’s PLAID parent group showed the film Waking Dream. Theo Rigby, who last shared his creative visual work at Hamlin in November of 2016, created the film.
PLAID’s mission is to support a vibrant and inclusive environment in which all members of the community can celebrate their authentic selves. We foster open dialogue through family programs, parent education, and community outreach.
Waking Dream weaves together the stories of six undocumented young people as they sit in limbo between deportation and a path to citizenship. DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) has provided nearly 800,000 undocumented young people a chance to work legally, go to college, start businesses, and pursue the “American Dream.” After DACA is rescinded, Waking Dream follows the unfolding fate of six of these young people as they fight for legal status in the U.S., struggle with the deportation of family members, and pursue their dreams in a country that is trying harder and harder to push them out. They know their fate must go one direction and they are fighting for their future in America.
After the film, Wanda M. Holland Greene (Head of The Hamlin School), led a discussion with a panel speakers. The three panelists were: Theo Rigby (Director of Waking Dream), Iliana G. Perez (Director of Research and Entrepreneurship with Immigrants Rising), and Dilan Pedraza (a Social Studies Teacher who is in the film).
Highlights of the discussion included:
-It is important to stay curious and continue to ask probing questions about immigration and DACA, rather than just believe homogenized media-generated opinions.
-It is important to stay proximate to both the nuanced issues related to immigration and to the individual people and their specific stories.
-It is important to remember that we are all interconnected as human beings.
Audience members were very moved by the film.
One Hamlin father stated, “You did an outstanding job with the film. You really humanized the situation.”
To watch the trailer and learn more, please visit: http://inationmedia.com/waking-dream/