Documentary film HARVEST OF EMPIRE will be screened at UAlbany on September 22, 2017

Film examines the influx of immigrants from Latin American countries to the United States

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Still from documentary film "Harvest of Empire" (2012)

ALBANY, NY (09/07/2017) (readMedia)-- HARVEST OF EMPIRE (United States, 2012, 90 minutes, color, directed by Peter Getzels and Eduardo Lopez) will be shown on Friday, September 22 at 7:30 p.m. in Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue on the University at Albany's downtown campus. Sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute, the screening is part of the Institute's Telling the Truth in a Post-Truth World Symposium, and is free and open to the public.

Based on the nonfiction book of the same name by award-winning journalist Juan González, this powerful documentary examines how the influx of immigrants from Latin American countries to the United States has been linked to American foreign policy. The film focuses on seven countries located in the Latin America region closest to the U.S. and takes an unflinching look at the role that U.S. economic and military interests played in triggering massive migrations from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. In a review of the film Stephanie Merry of The Washington Post said "For all the talk about immigration, rarely does the conversation veer into why so many Latinos have come to the United States. 'Harvest of Empire' attempts to fill in the gaps, and the reasons don't include some naive notion about streets being paved with gold."

Juan González is an investigative reporter, co-host of Democracy Now! and author of the books Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America (2000, on which the film is based), and Reclaiming Gotham (2017). He will participate on a panel "Race, Class, and the Future of Democracy" on Saturday, October 14, 2017, at Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, on the UAlbany Downtown Campus from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The panel is part of the Writers Institute's symposium Telling the Truth in a Post Truth World that will be held on the University at Albany campus on October 12 – 14. The symposium will feature acclaimed journalists, authors, historians, and scholars in a series of panel discussions on topics crucial to an open democratic society. To view the entire symposium schedule, visit the Institute's website at www.albany.edu/writers-inst.

For additional information contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620.

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