Synopsis:
"Tales
from Real Life" is an educational module recently released by the filmmakers
of Well Founded Fear. The video is broken into five 12-15 minute sections
featuring individual asylum cases. The video comes with a companion curriculum
guide which expands on the cases.
Hundreds
of times every day, the Asylum Office is a place where Americans come face-to-face
with the rest of the world. Asylum Officers who work there represent the
people and the government of the United States. Asylum-seekers who come
to ask for protection represent only themselves, their particular life
circumstances, their own unique luck.
Tales
From Real Life is an introduction to five of those stories, five people
from different countries and very different lives. Yet they are five people
you'll want to know -- a grandmother who was once a resistance fighter,
a high school kid whose life was changed forever by an article he wrote
for his school newspaper, an indigenous artist caught in a civil war, a
political dissident who describes his unusual torture after a midnight
arrest, a woman whose story shows how domestic violence can become political.
None
of these Tales have been available until now. Each story opens the door
to a universe of questions, and each can be looked at in several ways.
Each person is someone you'll remember and wonder about. We left these
stories open-ended, trusting that creative teachers and discussion leaders
will use them to open up many unique conversations.
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