Project Description
Gather your community and hold a screening of 500 Years
This fall, join NISGUA activists across the country in advancing conversations about international movements for social and environmental justice! Documentary filmmaker and NISGUA supporter Pamela Yates has generously offered us her latest film, 500 Years, to use as a tool for community education and grassroots action.
About the film:
500 YEARS explores more than five centuries of indigenous survival and resistance in Guatemala, drawing connections between the Spanish Conquest, U.S.-funded state violence, and transnational resource extraction. Thank you to Skylight Pictures for sharing your film with our solidarity network!
About the campaign:
NISGUA staff will support all hosts in planning and pulling off their film screening. To get started, explore our Organizer Toolkit, which includes prompts and talking points to guide discussion of the film, updates from NISGUA partners about key struggles highlighted in the film, materials to support movie-goers in taking action in solidarity with Guatemalan activists, and grassroots fundraising support. Email us to express interest, schedule a screening, or learn more!
Why now?
Since Trump took office, the U.S. government has been scaling up its racist attacks on immigrant communities, bringing long-standing policies of militarization, detention, and deportation to new extremes. In this dangerous and deadly context, why host a film screening about social movements in Guatemala?
As activists in the Latin American solidarity movement, we know that this current crisis has deep historical roots in colonialism and U.S. intervention, and we’re called into bold action in this moment–both to support and defend immigrants fighting for dignity and respect within the borders of the U.S., and in continued solidarity with anti-imperialist struggles in the Global South. By hosting a screening and discussion of 500 Years, you have an opportunity to educate yourself and your community about the historical role of the U.S. in creating the conditions that drive migration from Guatemala to the U.S., as well as the Guatemalan social movements that are working to transform those conditions and fight for the right to stay. This is a powerful contribution to make toward building a mass movement for migrant justice in the U.S.!
