Crossing Midnight Screening at UC Merced is Great Success

Students at UC Merced recently screened Crossing Midnight as part of their 2011 Human Rights Film Series. The event included a visit by Crossing Midnight director, Kim Snyder, a panel discussion of professors and students, and resulted additional screenings for the film. Christabelle Naw, a student at UC Merced and a key organizer of the Film Series, contacted BeCause Foundation to give an overview of the successful event:

On Friday, February 25th, 2011 at 7pm, Crossing Midnight was screened at University of California, Merced in the California Room.  The evening started out with Professor Robin DeLugan introducing the individuals and the sponsors who were involved in making the 5th Annual Human Rights Film Series month possible.  Crossing Midnight was the last film of the four films screened for 2011's Human Rights Film Series, therefore, it was a special one.  All films screened prior to Crossing Midnight were on the list of the Human Rights Film Festival website. Crossing Midnight is not on the list, however, Crossing Midnight was the only film that had a guest speaker. Crossing Midnight screening as well as the 5th Annual Human Rights Film Series were sponsored by Amnesty International at University of California, Merced, University of California, Merced Center for Research in the Humanities and Arts, Student Activities and Intercultural Programs in the Office of Student Life, and the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts.  The individuals were Professor Robin DeLugan, Professor Cristian H. Ricci, Melissa Dimayuga, Aaron De La Cerda, Karime Blanco, and Christabelle Naw.  These are the individuals who made the 5th Annual Human Rights Film Series at UC Merced possible.  

Professor DeLugan then introduced Kim A. Snyder, the producer/director of Crossing Midnight Film about the filmaker's work and more about Kim A. Snyder.  Kim A. Snyder introduced herself and started introducing her Crossing Midnight Film. Crossing Midnight Film then was played. There were about 30 people who attended the Crossing Midnight Film. After the film, Ms. Snyder gave open questions about her film and Burma's situation.  Many great questions were asked and Ms. Snyder were very informative when answering the questions to the audience.  In addition to the questions, Christabelle Naw, a student at UC Merced gave a testimony about her experiences as an illegal Karen ethnic of Burma in Thailand and a refugee in Thailand as an outcome of the dictatorship and injustice ruling of Burmese central government that destroyed her Karen's homeland.  She also gave an educational power point on the politics of Burma that escalated to the human rights abuses in Eastern Burma.  She gave the current issues the people inside Burma are facing as well as those who resettled into other countries face.  The evening ended with her power point presentation, which gave the audiences more about the background of the country and why there is human rights abuses in Burma.  Overall, the screening of Crossing Midnight Film was a success. Though it was a small event, it was a rare event in which Southeast Asian's issues were brought into light to the community in Merced and the students at UC Merced.  

Future: Crossing Midnight film will be shown at San Francisco State University on March 23 and March 24, 2011 to an Asian American Communities and Health class, and an Asian American Public Policy class which Christabelle Naw is invited to speak to."