With the help of student interns, student clubs/organizations, educational institutions, corporate sponsors, interested not-for-profit organizations, activists, religious organizations, government leaders and volunteers, Ferzana Hashmi and the Hashmi Law Firm, P.L.C. will organize a film festival in Central Iowa in late 2007/early 2008, to provide an opportunity for diverse audiences to learn about international issues, the immigration reform debate and the immigrant experience through the viewing of films and the participation in panel discussions with "experts."

Education on immigration is imperative in Iowa. Of note, the immigration reform debate has been identified [1] as an important issue for the November 2008 presidential election, particularly for Iowans.  At a minimum, voters in Iowa must be educated about immigration before they vote, given the important role [2] the state of Iowa plays in determining the slate of candidates presented to the entire nation. Certainly, with Marshalltown, Iowa as one of the sites across six sites to be hit by the largest immigration raid in U.S. history[3] in December 2006, there is a pressing need for Iowa to learn more about this subject, irrespective of the independent importance of the immigration debate to the nation.  Finally, with the dependence of Iowa's economy on agriculture and a steady supply of manual labor, the aging of Iowa's population, the variances in birth rates between Iowans and Immigrants and the flight of Iowa's young to other states, Iowa's future is inextricably intertwined with immigrants.[4] As an artistic medium, film is a very effective tool to showcase a variety of viewpoints and perspectives.[5] Given the divisiveness of the immigration debate, film is a particularly powerful medium capable of re-injecting the "human" element and perhaps, common ground into the debate.  While the undertaking is huge, the importance of the Film Festival Project is undeniable.

As a first generation immigrant of Pakistani and Tanzanian heritage, naturalized U.S. citizen, world traveler, educator, immigration attorney and artist, Ms. Hashmi will lend her expertise on a pro-bono basis to bring the Film Festival Project to fruition, in the hopes that the Film Festival Project will become an annual event.  Ideally, the interest and support generated from the first occurrence of the film festival will result in the founding of a separate not-for-profit organization to lead the film festival into the future.  Even if this proves to be difficult, there is certainly a vital need for education on immigration in the short-term that will be met by even one occurrence of the Film Festival Project.


References
[1] Farhana Hossain, Ben Werschkul, and Sarah Wheaton. "The Presidential Candidates on Immigration." Election Guide 2008. July 2007. The New York Times Company. 3 Jul 2007 <http://www.nytimes.com/ref/washington/IMMIGRATIONPOSITIONS.html>.

[2] "First in the Nation, Second to None." Iowa First Caucus. July 2007. Iowa Democratic Party. 3 Jul 2007 <http://www.iowafirstcaucus.org/>.

[3] "Human Right Violations in the Largest Immigration Raid in U.S. History continue unchecked." Dec 2006. The Safe Zone Foundation. 3 Jul 2007 <http://ms.foundation.org/user-assets/PDF/SafeZoneRelease121206.pdf>.

[4] The Associated Press, "Iowa recruits immigrants to boost population." CNN.com. 4 Sep 2000. Cable News Network. 3 Jul 2007 <http://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/09/04/iowa.meltingpot.ap/>.

[5] "Film." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 2 Jul 2007, 20:23 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 3 Jul 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Film&oldid=142082738>.